


Diary of an Aarakocra Monk

by Wishingforthatlife



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: (occasionally) unreliable narrator, Action/Adventure, Animal Death, Backstory, Diary/Journal, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Light Angst, Original DnD Campaign, Saving the World, a bit of found family, creepy demonic cults, unambiguous heros
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 25,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26766571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wishingforthatlife/pseuds/Wishingforthatlife
Summary: Kilel isn't really keen on adventuring, but when her Shaman has a vision of a mysterious "Dark Plea," she's the one sent to investigate. She runs into a band of misfit adventurers and decides to tag along. What follows is even crazier than she could have possibly dreamed.A diary written from the perspective of my PC, Kilel, documenting her experiences adventuring with her party in hopes of defeating the "Dark Plea." Based on a DnD campaign I took part in. The campaign is now over, but we hope to run more games in the same world, likely with a different GM.
Kudos: 1





	1. 16th day of Flamerule, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kilel is destined to be an adventurer. She's not too thrilled.

When Omafir gave me this silly book and told me to “record my grand adventures” I thought the old elf was just being eccentric. He’s a devout follower of Deneir, so he has a tendency to push hand-bound journals at anyone who shows an inkling of desire to go adventuring.

I told him I wasn’t leaving the monastery to go adventuring. I was going home to see what befell my tribe when the sky fell, but he slipped the book into my pack anyways. Now, part of me wonders if he knows more than he lets on.

I’ve been home for a few months, without any intention of touching this journal. I’m no adventurer like Criril was. But, last night around the communal fire, after Kirel’s performance (She’s gotten pretty good with that ocarina I sent her) the shaman, Zarre, announced he’d had a vision.

He said dark forces were coming, and one of us would have to set out on an adventure, to gather information about a “dark plea” and save our people. He looked right at me when he said it. Everyone noticed, so, like an idiot I volunteered. Most of the tribe has never even flown more than a day’s travel from the aerie, and the way Zarre looked at me, I didn’t really have much of a choice.

Weird fungus-like creatures have been spreading from the nearest impact crater. They haven’t gone very far yet, so the hunters have been able to avoid them by keeping to the south, but it’s got the entire aerie on edge. Perhaps when I go, I can find a party of adventurers strong enough to help me wipe out this plague, as well as investigate this “Dark Plea.”

Mom cried when we got back to our nest for the night. She tried to pretend she wasn’t. Even Kirel seemed somber for once. We just lost dad when the sky fell. They’re worried I’ll be killed while out adventuring. Honestly, I’m worried too. But I’ve got to do this, so there’s no place for fear. I leave tomorrow at first light, so I’ve got most of the day to prepare.

The whole aerie is gathering for a ceremony tonight to see me off. That certainly cheered Kirel up immensely, the silly songbird. She’s demanded that I write about my adventures so she can turn them into epic ballads, so I guess I’ll be using this journal after all. Anything to cheer up my little sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is sort of a prequel chapter based on conversations I had with my DM. All mentioned characters except Kilel herself are NPCs I made up.


	2. 19th day of Flamerule, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kilel comes across a band of adventurers seemingly attacking a town? The explanation they give doesn't make a lot of sense, but they townsfolk are ok so I guess it's fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For context: The campaign had already been going on for some time when I joined, but they had just reached the end of an adventure. I was still fairly new to the game.

I’ve been flying for about three days now, sleeping and eating on the wing. The winds have unfailingly carried me west, towards the coast. It’s odd, as they normally blow eastward, away from the sea this time of year. I took that as a sign that west is the direction I’m meant to go. I’m officially farther from home than I’ve ever been before. I hope I’ll be able to return someday.

* * *

I was approaching a village this evening, and heard the town’s bell ringing, so I flew a bit lower out of curiosity. I saw what appeared to be the entire village lying unconscious in front of the bell tower! As I landed to check on them, a few adventurers emerged from the tower, so I drew my sword, prepared to defend the helpless villagers from whatever curse they had cast.

Luckily, the adventurers weren’t the ones that had cursed the village. In fact, they had just broken the curse, and the villagers were merely suffering side effects from the shock. I felt pretty silly for threatening them. The villagers all woke up not long after. Apparently the curse was caused by some sort of psychic crystal, that had been in the belly of a long-dead dragon. At least, that’s the story they told me. They had the crystal shards and dragon scales to back up their claims, though the whole story seems too surreal to believe.

The party consists of a human (who I think is a barbarian? The adventuring class, not a savage. He’s actually quite polite. I think he said his name was Erik?); a high elf who has a pet cat that’s literally the size of a wolf! (she calls it ‘Baby.’ The beast has taken a keen interest in my feathers. I’ll have to keep an eye on it); Two lizard men, a shaman and a hunter. (The hunter was the only party member who didn’t stare. I knew Aarakocra were uncommon, but the others stared at me like I was some sort of monster); and an oddly tall dwarf in gleaming armor.

About the time I arrived, a shadowy figure also appeared to investigate the town. He called himself Kel, and expressed interest in joining the adventuring party. He wears robes that cover every inch of his skin, and a mask to hide his face, so I have no idea what he is. Something about him unsettles me. I don’t trust him at all, and the barbarian seemed to share my misgivings. He had a rather disturbing looking pet he called “Grim.” It looks like a cross between a giant mosquito and a fruit bat.

A few of the adventurer’s allies arrived while we were seeing to the villagers, and one mentioned the “Dark Plea” that Zarre warned me of. I’ve decided to stick around with this group, to hopefully learn more. They seem pretty competent, at least. The town was grateful that the adventurers saved them from the curse, and the innkeep was kind enough to give us all room and board for free while the adventurers and their allies plan to build a base of operations in the former dragon’s lair. I’m glad, as I have very little money to spend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kel is a new PC added the same session I joined. The player who formerly played the Lizardfolk Shaman "Rakashk" swapped characters. Rakashk was still technically there, so I felt he should be included.


	3. 20th day of Flamerule, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Party goes back and clears out a dungeon.

Today we cleared the former dragon’s lair of the creatures that remained within. Rakashk, the lizardfolk shaman decided to stay behind, but the rest of us traveled up the mountain to an old mine. My companions proved to be pretty formidable in combat, though the elf (Hellebore, as I’ve learned) nearly got herself killed!

There was a rather large statue of the dragon in one of the rooms. It was carved out of stone, and it had eyes of sapphire. Hellebore decided to pry one of the eyes out, which caused the statue to come alive and attack her! Luckily, it seemed entirely focused on Hellebore, who proved to be quick enough to avoid its claws, and we were able to destroy it. Naturally, Hellebore took the opportunity to claim the other eye. (I later asked why she’d done something so reckless, and she admitted it was simply because the gems were “shiny.” Reminds me of the time old Mags lost a few tail feathers trying to take a handful of gems from a monster’s lair.)

Kel proved to be quite dangerous in combat when he used powerful necromancy to wear away at the stone. Ultimately it was Hellebore’s spell that destroyed the statue though, shattering it with a loud clap of thunder when it attempted to chase her.

Before we could get the chance to breathe after destroying the statue, we were attacked by the resident necromancer, who we’d come to evict. (By the stars and the sky he STANK! I nearly lost my breakfast) Apparently he was quite attached to the statue, and was angry that we had destroyed it. He had a small horde of undead he summoned to fight us, and this absolutely horrific, animated mess of tangled bones. We sent the wretches to their final graves without too much trouble though. Thorgrim, the dwarf, shielded me from being harmed by one of the undead, so I suppose I owe him my gratitude.

Above the mines was the actual dragon’s lair. I got to see the remains of the dragon, which was impressive, even dead. Its scales were the color of sapphire, and they glittered quite beautifully. I’m glad I didn’t have to fight the beast. Its claws looked big enough to tear my head off with one swipe! It had a massive hoard of copper coins piled against one wall.

It was quite late by then, so we decided to head back to town in the morning and spent the night in the dragon’s lair. I talked a bit with Norkath, the lizardfolk hunter while we set up camp. Apparently there was an Aarakocra in his former hunting party. He knew a few words of the Aarakocra language, which, hilariously, were almost all swears. I taught him my favorite swears too, for good measure. He asked me to teach him more of the language, and I agreed. His interest seems genuine enough, and his pronunciation is far better than anyone else who tried. We also agreed to go hunting together some time.


	4. 29th day of Flamerule, 1494

We’ve been in town for about a week now, while construction is underway in the dragon’s lair. Last night someone slipped Norkath a note, which asked for our help, and instructed us to meet a man named “Thales” in Neverwinter. We’ve decided to go, and see what this mysterious Thales wants of us. I’d prefer to stay and learn what the astronomer’s guild knows of the “Dark Plea,” but as Criril used to say: “Fortune favors those who act.” So I’ve decided to stay with the adventuring party.

I’ve also learned that everyone in the party, except me and Aris, is something called a “psionic.” According to Norkath and Hellebore, they gained these mysterious abilities when they investigated the crash site of the nearest meteor and received “engrams.” These engrams grant them special abilities and allow them to communicate in their minds without speaking aloud. They’ve agreed to take me and Aris to the crash site to receive one of these engrams. I’m a bit skeptical, but if it grants me an advantage in combat, I don’t see any reason not to. Aris is quite enthusiastic about the idea. We’re leaving tomorrow, first to the crash site, then onward to Neverwinter.

I was surprised to learn that the meteors that weren’t all the same, though I suppose I should have realized that sooner, given the notable lack of fungus creatures attacking people near the crash site. Perhaps we should investigate the other crash sites, after we meet with Thales.

My companions commissioned gear from the local blacksmith in preparation for our upcoming adventure. Norkath got an impressive-looking set of armor made from the dead dragon’s scales, and Hellebore got a shield to match. Aris commissioned a horrendously gaudy pair of pure gold knuckle dusters. He literally gave the smith gold coins to melt down into these monstrosities he affectionately named “righty” and “lefty.” Whoever said barbarians aren’t creative clearly never met Aris!

This somehow feels like the start of a much grander adventure. I doubt we will be returning to Bellhold any time soon. I’m glad to have the party on my side, even though something about Kel still ruffles my feathers. He’s shown no ill will towards the party though, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A filler chapter, to help the following events make more sense


	5. Midsummer’s day, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kilel and Aris gain psionic powers.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the engram ark – all that the others would say when asked was: “You’ll have to see it for yourself.” The whole experience was quite surreal. I’ll describe it to the best of my abilities here.

On the outside, the ark looked like a sphere about 1½ wingspan (or 30feet) across, made of a shimmery force field. A team from the Astronomer’s Guild were working to excavate it from the impact crater. We were greeted by a woman named Synne, who opened a door on the side of the ark for us. It was then that Norkath decided to warn us that time moves differently inside the ark, and that last time they entered they were inside for eight months! Luckily, the guild seems to have stabilized the time fluctuations somewhat, and we exited on the same day we entered. But more on that later.

We walked down a long, dark, and horribly cramped winding corridor that went on for much longer than should have been possible, given the outward dimensions of the sphere. I was on the verge of hyperventilating by the time we reached the vast room at the heart of the ark. The room was quite the sight to behold! A silvery, circular sea took up the center of the room, and floating above it was a metal and crystal construct the others referred to as the “Memekeeper.” It looked pretty badly damaged, but Hellebore assured me that it was in much better shape than the last time, thanks to the efforts of the Astronomer’s guild. The Memekeeper also mentioned that the Dark Plea was the force that had caused the damage in the first place, though information it had on the Dark Plea was limited until it could be further repaired. It only knew that the Dark Plea desired to bring about the end of our world.

Aris and I were then instructed to jump into the sea to receive our engrams. Aris jumped in first, and a few seconds later came up with a glowing blue symbol on his arm. Reassured that it was safe, I jumped in next. I quickly came to realize that the sea was not, in fact, composed of water at all, but of thousands of colorful runes, which behaved remarkably like water. When I swam back to the surface and looked upon the glowing red mark that had affixed itself to my chest, my mind was assaulted by a deeply unsettling vision. It lasted but for a brief moment, but I shall never forget the image of a completely alien world that smelled like nothing I’d ever experienced before, and the impression that there was something missing that I should remember, but couldn’t.

When I came to my senses again, Norkath showed me how psionics are able to communicate in their minds. It was rather disorienting at first, as I could see my surroundings, as well as the illusionary plains that Norkath and I were standing in. He called this imaginary space a “mindscape,” and explained you could open such a space with any psionic being. I found it quite interesting, and have resolved to explore this “mindscape” more on my own during my daily meditations.

The Memekeeper explained to me and Aris what the different colors of engram did, and if any of us had received engrams that did not suit our abilities, then we could swim in the sea for an hour, focusing on the desired color, and they would receive the desired engram. Aris, Norkath and Thorgrim all decided to change theirs, while Hellebore, Kel and I waited. All three of them chose red, like mine, which boosts one’s psionic abilities. Hellebore’s engram was a special white one, that slightly boosts all of her abilities, magical, physical and psionic, and Kel derives his psionic abilities from some other, undisclosed source.

When the others were done choosing their engrams, we made our way back out of the ark, along the cramped corridor. The engrams stopped glowing once we exited, and mine was entirely hidden under my feathers. It was still only about midday, so after a quick lunch we all decided to move on towards Neverwinter. It will take us about a week to reach the city on foot, and we all want to get there as soon as we can.

I still haven’t seen Kel sleep or, more interestingly, eat. I will certainly be watching him while we travel. None of the horses seem to like him, either. They’re timid beasts though; my horse was afraid of me at first too, and they all still shy away if I dare stretch my wings where they can see. I still prefer flying, but at least the horses know to stay with the group, so I can focus on other things, like writing this, while they walk.


	6. 5th day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kilel gets into a barfight with another Aarakocra.

Last night, we stopped in a small village tavern along our path, and I was surprised to see another Aaracockra there. She seemed equally surprised to see me. There was also a goliath, a halfling, and a centaur that seemed to be part of the same group. I struck up a conversation with the Aarakocra, who introduced herself as Rhuk. She told me how she’d been found as a young hatchling by a human ranger, who raised her and taught her how to survive the wilds. Apparently she’d only met another Aarakocra once before. She guiltily added that she’d his tail on fire after he wouldn’t leave her alone.

My brother had once told me in a letter of a beautiful, but wild Aarakocra he’d met in his adventuring and attempted to woo. I knew he could be pretty insistent with his affections, so I asked Rhuk to describe the Aarakocra she met. To my horror, she described Criril exactly. I guess the look on my face gave away my thoughts because Rhuk asked: “I’m guessing you know the guy?” I admitted that, from her description, it sounded like my brother was the culprit, and apologized for his behavior. She laughed at this and told me not to worry about it.

Rhuk then noticed Norkath’s dragonscale armor, and asked how he’d gotten it. As he told her about the dead dragon and the crystal, her party gathered around to listen. A grin spread across her face as she listened, and when Norkath was done, Rhuk proclaimed that her adventuring party had actually killed a dragon, and offered to tell us the tale.

Naturally, my companions were curious and gathered around to listen. She started off by saying that the party had been one member stronger at the time, and that the bartender, Kasos, had been with them as well. Apparently he was a bard, and knew some powerful combat spells. When she described the missing party member, Vargoch, a lizardfolk barbarian, Hellebore and Thorgrim got excited and announced that Vargoch had actually joined them for a while, before tragically being killed by a band of Fire Newts. Norkath seemed upset about something, and slunk off to the corner to drink.

Rhuk and the other adventurers seemed sad to hear of their friend’s demise, but after assurances that the others hadn’t heard the story from Vargoch before, Rhuk launched into the harrowing tale of the fight against a white dragon, while Kasos played exciting backup music on his lute. Everyone listened intently as Rhuk described being nearly frozen by the dragon’s icy breath, how Vargoch brought the beast low with a powerful strike to the beast’s wing, preventing it from flying away, and how Thelved, the centaur had finished it off with his powerful necromancy.

Norkath still seemed upset about something, so I went to him and asked what was wrong. He was already several drinks down at this point, so he slurred as he explained that Vargoch had been his brother, and hearing of his exploits was a painful reminder of his death. I gave him my sympathies and told him that I, too, had lost a brother to the adventurer’s life. We spent a majority of the night trading stories and drowning our sorrows in ale.

I don’t remember much after the third or fourth drink, but Aris and Thorgrim tell me that I got into a bit of a bar-brawl with Rhuk at some point during the night. Apparently she got drunk as well, and was coming onto me. I shoved her, and she turned into a wolf! We traded blows and bites before Aris and Lorzak (Rhuk’s goliath friend) pulled us apart. Kasos kindly healed my wounds and Aris dragged me off to bed.

I woke to an apology note from Rhuk, and some ginger-willow bark tea, which took the edge off my pounding headache and eased my upset stomach. Unfortunately, I didn’t see her on our way out of town, so I left a note with Kasos, apologizing for my part in the brawl, and thanking her for the tea. I won’t be touching alcohol for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we happened to pass through the town where our other campaign was taking place. The two campaigns occur on different timelines, as Vargoch died in this campaign before I joined, to be replaced by Norkath, and he was reused in the other campaign. Kasos also died in the other campaign. His player is the DM of this campaign. 
> 
> This is mostly filler, but it was fun having my two characters interact.


	7. 9th day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party takes a job in Neverwinter

We’ve finally arrived in Neverwinter and I absolutely hate it. I’ve never seen so many people crowded together in one place, and, to make matters worse, our party attracts a lot of unwelcome attention, especially Norkath and I. A few bratty young children even ran up and attempted to pull out one of my tail feathers! I was so startled by this sudden pain, I reached for the hilt of my sword on instinct, and that was enough to send them running away screaming. Are all human children that rude? If they’d just asked nicely, I would’ve given them an old feather from my quiver.

Norkath seemed even more uneasy than I was with all the people staring. He was hyperventilating by the time we reached the inn and found Thales, but luckily he was able to calm down once everyone lost interest and stopped staring at us. Can’t say I blame him. This city’s so crowded I can’t even spread my wings without hitting someone, and it’s loud. The sooner we’re out of here, the better.

Thales is an… interesting person. He turned out to be a psionic, so we held most of our discussion in a mindscape, to keep it private. He explained that he was part of a group of 7 Sages that called themselves “Dreamkeepers.” They had the ability to explore the world of dreams and even bring things back. They gained these abilities by studying something he called the “Oraculus.” Thales explained that he needed our help because, when the sky fell, it knocked the Oraculus from this plane of existence, into a place he called the “Shallows.” To retrieve it, we would have to journey to the impact site, and enter a portal to the Shallows there.

When asked why the other Sages didn’t help him retrieve the Oraculus, Thales explained that the other six had been behaving erratically since the sky fell, and he could no longer trust them. He said that the Shallows were too dangerous for him to search alone, so he’d hired us to escort him. He warned us that it was dangerous, that there were monsters in the shallows, and that the other Sages might attempt to stop us. He hoped that restoring the Oraculus would bring the other Sages to their senses.

Thales said he would reward us by teaching us to create items from our dreams, and that he’d pay for any supplies we needed for the journey. We plotted the best route of travel to the impact site, then we had free time to explore the city. Norkath and I explored along the rooftops, avoiding the majority of the crowds, just getting the layout of the city and seeing what it has to offer. We later found a wonderful-smelling place that sold hot, tasty food and had places for us to sit while we ate. Norkath called it a “restaurant.” I was delighted to have a break from bland rations and Hellebore’s cooking. Kel wandered by, and decided to join us, though he still didn’t eat anything at the restaurant.

When we caught up to the other party members, Hellebore had a pigeon who she affectionately named “Rocks” because he was “dumb as a box of Rocks.” I was a little disturbed to see that the pet shop owner had clipped the bird’s wings, but Rocks seemed happy enough perched on Hellebore’s shoulder that I let it be. Hellebore told us of a merchant she’d heard rumors of that sold rare and magical items. We’d have to look for a lantern hanging in a specific intersection of the city, then enter the sewers. I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of going underground, but we all agreed to check out this merchant together as a party.

The merchant, or “Fence” as Hellebore called her, was a hunched, wrinkled old woman with an odd variety of items. The party haggled with the old woman while I regretted my decision to accompany them. Hellebore eventually purchased a “Luckstone” that looked like a cat, and Norkath bought a rod that, when you push a button on it, is impossible to move, even if it’s hanging midair.

We then retired to the inn for the night, as snow was beginning to fall. I can hear the wind howling outside as I write this, and I expect we’ll be snowed in by morning. I’m glad we made it to Neverwinter before this snow hit. It’s weirdly out of season for snow, but the weather has been cold and cloudy since the sky fell. Nothing really seems normal anymore. Tomorrow will be cold and miserable though. We plan to keep close to the river, which magically stays warm, despite the freezing weather.

I was awakened in the middle of the night by a loud boom, just like the ones made by the meteors when the sky fell. I got out of bed to see everyone in the tavern peering out the windows, talking excitedly. Even through the haze of snow, we could see the bright tail of another meteor, and watched as it aced across the sky to crash somewhere in the mountains to the north of the city. Those of us that awoke agreed to discuss it further in the morning and went back to bed.


	8. 10th day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party leaves neverwinter. Kilel doesn't like snow.

We woke early & had a hot breakfast at the inn. The others thought it was weird that I eat turkey and eggs, to which I pointed out: “Aris is more closely related to a cow than I am to a turkey or a chicken and you don’t think it weird when he eats beef!” That shut them up.

After breakfast, I helped the innkeeper dig out the doorway after last night’s blizzard, while the others made plans. I was absolutely shocked when I came back to the table and was handed a pouch with 1,200 gold in it! I’ve never seen this much gold in one place before! Apparently Thorgrim negotiated with Thales for half our payment up front, so we can buy things we’d need for the trip. They’d also decided not to go investigate the meteor that fell last night, which I was fine with. One of the bar patrons had told Norkath last night that there were fire elementals in the mountains, so we all agreed it was better to just pursue the quest Thales had given us.

We’ve decided to follow the Neverwinter river to its headwaters near the Long Road, then cross the High Forest just south of the Star Mountains. I was excited to hear that our path would take us so close to the aerie! Apparently Hellebore’s family live on the banks of Unicorn Run too! She also seems excited that we’ll be passing by her home, and has even offered to house the party for the night when we get there. I would have extended the same offer, but it’s an incredibly difficult climb to the aerie if you can’t fly. I pity the fact that my companions will never get to see the splendor of the High Forest from far above the trees.

We bought some warmer clothes with the money Thales gave us, and headed out before midday. It’s cold and miserable out, but still better than being in the city. I flew over the river for most of the day and caught trout with my talons, which Norkath cleaned for us to eat at dinnertime. Luckily the horses seem to have gotten used to me flying near them, and don’t spook like they used to. Hellebore claims she talked to them using a spell and managed to convince them I wasn’t a threat. Kel’s horse still doesn’t seem to like him very much though. It’s going to be a long trek to where the Oraculus was, and it doesn’t seem like the weather will be improving any time soon. At least the river is warm.


	9. 12th day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Random encounter! Dammit Aris, Norkath wanted to make it a coat.

We encountered a Yeti in the snow while we were traveling. Aris beat it to a bloody pulp. Norkath was a little upset because he’d wanted to use the pelt, but Aris had ruined it. I told him to try and salvage what he could, and I’d do my best to patch it up. This was a grave mistake on my part, because, apparently, none of our spellcasters know the simple spell “mending” and now I’m stuck with a huge pile of clothes and gear everyone needs patched. Nobody else will admit that they know how to sew, so now I’m stuck with it. I swear if they try to make me WASH their laundry next, I’ll leave it just slightly too far from the river so that it freezes instead of drying.


	10. 14th day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Party clears out a pirate ship! The sparking point for a rather crazy chain of events.

Today has been… interesting. Maybe an hour after we broke camp, we encountered a large ship anchored by the river. There was a lone dwarf on board the ship, who waved us over. Some sort of spell prevented Kel from coming near the ship, much to his frustration. The dwarf explained that the ward prevented evil beings from coming near, and if it was stopping Kel, then he didn’t trust him. After some convincing from Thorgrim, he let Kel through the ward though, and we all came aboard his ship, leaving the horses tied up nearby.

The dwarf introduced himself as Falgon, and explained that his crew and captain had been captured by pirates. He begged us to help rescue them and, after asking Thales if we could detour a bit, we agreed. Norkath and I scouted ahead a bit, and came across two patrols, one on either side of the river. We all agreed to ambush the patrol on the near side and take one of them as a prisoner, to get information out of him.

The fight was pretty quick and easy. The patrolmen weren’t really paying attention and didn’t see us coming. Norkath and I took down one of them with an arrow each, Thorgrim and Hellebore took out the second, and Aris beat the third within an inch of his life. The others tied up the pirate and interrogated him while Thorgrim and I disposed of the bodies, just in case. The pirate told us that his ship was anchored another mile or so up the river, and that the captives would be held there.

We left him tied up as bait, and waited for another patrol to happen by. I eventually got bored of waiting and flew off to scout ahead. When I circled back around, I was met by some sort of blue demon-woman being chased by two people in robes, running towards my companions. The woman shouted that they were trying to kill her, and that they were evil, so I put an arrow through one’s chest. The other immediately teleported away in fear.

The woman thanked me and introduced herself as Glass. Interesting name, I suppose. She explained to the party that the robed figures had been chasing her for a little over a week, and she didn’t know why. She thought it had something to do with her metal arm though. Looking at the arm, we all realized it had a black psionic engram on it. The memekeeper had explained to us that black engrams were corrupted, and often detrimental to the bearer, but could have varying effects. Glass said she had no idea where the engram came from either, but it was possible that it was the reason the cult was after her.

Glass asked if she could travel with us. She said she was an artificer, and that she could make potions, enchant equipment, and cast healing spells. She seemed nice, and helpful enough, so we all agreed to let her join in. She proved her skills later in the day. I’m also very glad that she knows the spell mending. I hate sewing.

We realized that the pirates weren’t coming to look for their missing crew members, so we headed down the river to where the pirate ship was anchored. Falgon called the ship a “Nautiloid” and said it was the type of ship used by mindflayers. (I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get much sleep tonight, even though I’m bone-tired. Mindflayers are the stuff of horror stories.) On one deck of the ship, there were three ballistas, all manned, and the deck above had a catapult.

Thales, Hellebore and Kel decided to stay on the shore of the river and provide cover with their ranged spells while I took to the air with my bow, and Glass, Aris, Thorgrim and Norkath climbed the side of the boat. Falgon charged right up the gangplank and into the thick of the melee without waiting on the others. He ended up pretty badly wounded, but he was fine in the end.

I took care of the pair on the upper deck, with the catapult, since it posed the biggest threat to our spellcasters. I managed to take down one of the men with arrows, but some muscle-bound, half-brained half-orc kept throwing javelins at me, which I caught without too much trouble, but it made it rather difficult to get a clean shot on my targets. The half-wit was so intimidated by seeing me catch his javelins, and even a crossbow bolt, that he hid inside the ship! I landed on the upper deck and finished off the second pirate with my sword. He managed to nick me with his trident, but it wasn’t too serious.

Naturally, Norkath and Thorgrim managed to climb up onto the deck right as I dispatched the pirate. The others cleared the lower deck at about the same time, and Kel, Hellebore and Thales made their way up the gangplank to the others. Apparently Glass fell a couple times, and Aris had to catch her. Brilliant plan, climbing the boat guys. The ballistas kept missing when they tried to shoot at Hellebore, so she, Thales and Kel were all unharmed.

With the decks cleared, we made our way inside the ship. Inside, there were a few more pirates, a wizard, the half-orc, and a giant stone golem. The wizard had a little statue that he used to control the golem. He ordered the thing not to allow us in, and ran down to the lower decks of the ship. Norkath and I picked off the remaining pirates while Aris had yet another brilliant idea! He punched a hole in the wooden deck and jumped down through it, bypassing the area that the golem was guarding.

One by one, we each followed Aris down the hole, except Thales, who summoned a hideous monster to tackle the golem. On the storage deck, we found the remainder of the pirate crew, and subsequently dispatched them. Someone managed to wrest the statue from the wizard, and he teleported away instead of fighting. We chased the half-orc down to the slave deck, and, again, Aris and Thorgrim beat him within an inch of his life, even breaking off one of his tusks. We locked him in one of the cells and freed the captives. Unfortunately, none of them were Falgon’s crew, so the guys proceeded to interrogate the Half-orc to find out where they were being kept.

I was feeling rather claustrophobic in the cramped, dark slave deck, so I went up to explore the rest of the ship with Glass and Hellebore. One of the bedrooms was absolutely disgusting, even I could smell its stench. Most of the food in the Galley was moldy and inedible. There was a door that we couldn’t figure out how to open, so Glass decided to take a page from Aris’ book, and had the Golem (which she named “Jagermeister”) break a hole through the deck above the locked room. In the room, which I believe must have belonged to the wizard, we found an alchemy lab, which excited Glass greatly. There was also an egg, which I took out of curiosity. Perhaps it’s worth something to the wizard, and we can get him to surrender by threatening it. Given where it came from, I have little doubt it will hatch into some sort of monster. Hellebore found a scroll, which exploded when she tried to read it, wounding all three of us.

Upon hearing the explosion, the boys came to check on us. Aris found a skeleton hand with a ring on it, and, being a brilliant barbarian, he put it on. The ring talks. It has a very annoying voice. It also eats gold, and promised if we feed it, it can help Aris with its powers. When asked what powers it possessed, the ring’s answers were quite vague.

On the slave deck, we came across a hidden room, that Aris’ ring opened. Behind it was a dirty, haggard-looking dwarf wearing dented runic armor locked inside. He introduced himself as Thirephum explained that the captain had locked him in there for causing trouble. Behind Thirephum’s cell, we found the treasure! Unfortunately, when Kel tried to move one of the chests, he was attacked by a creature disguising itself as the floor. We managed to kill it before it could eat Kel, but in the tussle, Kel’s mask came off, and it was revealed that he was an undead!

Shockingly, Kel dropped his normally sour demeanor and seemed genuinely nervous that we would turn on him just because he was undead. He thanked us for saving him from the creature, and put his mask back on. We all assured him that we didn’t care that he was undead, and proceeded to divvy up the treasure. There was a fair bit of money, and some pearls. I got a very good quality short sword and a magical longsword. The long sword is a bit different, but I believe, with practice, I could master it.

We decided to spend the night on the ship, and head off to the caves where the dwarves were being held in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glass and Thirephum are new characters! Thirephum joined the session after Glass. He's crazy!


	11. 15th day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ship is attacked (twice) the pirates are dealt with, and the dwarves rescued. Kilel is traumatized! Hellebore causes trouble!

This day has been quite the windstorm of emotions. It started with Thorgrim and I being mortally wounded, and ended with us all in a dwarven fortress in space. Let me start from the beginning.

We were roused before dawn by Kel shouting that creatures were coming towards the ship. Aris, Hellebore and I were sleeping on the deck, so we were the first up to see what he was shouting about. We were soon joined by our other party members. Racing through the trees were two enormous creatures that can only be described as “nightmares.” (We learned later from Thales that they were, in fact, creatures literally spawned from the dark parts of the dream world. Lovely.)

These creatures moved with sickening, disjointed and unpredictable motions, making them hard to land a hit on. I swooped in close to try and slash one with my sword, or my talons, but it kept jerking away at the very last second. Then the creature lashed out with its razor-sharp, glass like hooks… The next thing I remember, I was on the deck of the ship, with Aris standing over me, cold, determined rage on his face and an empty potion bottle in his hand. He threw at the beast before launching himself at it with an unbridled fury I had never seen before. I was a bit dazed, and in a lot of pain, so it took me a moment to realize that I could no longer see out of my right eye.

A rush of terror went through me and I launched myself back into the fight. The others shouted for me to go back inside the ship, but I was high on fear and anger, and I refuse to back down while my allies are still in danger. The fight thereafter was a bit of a blur. Thales summoned another nightmare-creature that looked like the unholy offspring of a brain and a squid, while Hellebore and Norkath stayed on the upper deck, firing spells and arrows. We soon discovered that as one of the creatures was defeated, it split into two weaker versions of itself. Fortunately, the weaker versions seemed to lack this ability, and merely dissolved into shadow when defeated. After failing to hit one of them with my fists or my sword, I turned to the ship’s ballista, which was still loaded, and fired it into one of the creature’s chests, wounding it badly and knocking it away from the ship.

Thorgrim was also knocked out during the fight at some point, and came away with a deep wound across his face. Glass healed him to get him back on his feet, but it still left a jagged scar. When the fight was over and the adrenaline faded, the full gravity of the situation finally struck me, and I was left a sobbing mess on the deck. The creature had gouged out my eye, and very nearly killed me, and had nearly killed one of my friends as well.

Aris was kind enough to try and console me, though, admittedly I was more than a bit hysterical, and babbling in a mix of Aarakocra and Common about how I hate adventuring and I didn’t want to die, etc. I’m a bit ashamed of my behavior, looking back at it. Despite his gruff exterior, Aris really is a kind soul though. He eventually managed to calm me down, and bandage my wounds. When he was done patching me up, Aris went off to “look for something” while I stayed out on deck and meditated, channeling my Ki into healing myself a bit, then drawing it back into myself like I had been taught, so that I could be ready for the next fight.

By the time Aris came back, I felt a lot better. He was carrying an eye-patch that he’d found in one of the pirate’s quarters. His grin wasn’t entirely convincing as he insisted it would “look so badass” if I wore it. I figured my face must have looked pretty bad, so I humored him and put it on. At some point during my meditation, Kel slipped off into the forest, telling Norkath that his goddess had called him to a different purpose, and that he wouldn’t be back. I walked into the ship to catch the tail end of an argument. The others were angry at Thales because he’d failed to warn us about the nightmare creatures (which he called “phrensies”). He insisted that he didn’t think they’d come this far from the impact site where the Oraculus was shattered. This didn’t seem to appease anyone, but they let it go, and we went off to rescue Falgon’s crew. Glass stayed behind to work on repairing the pirate ship, but gave the figurine that controlled Jagermeister to Aris, so we could use the golem if we needed.

While we were walking, Falgon assured me that his captain would be able to restore my eye with his healing magic. That made me feel a lot better. I walked with Hellebore while Aris and Norkath took the lead, and Thorgrim and Falgon formed the rear guard. I chatted a bit with Hellebore while we walked, and she told me how she had learned to use magic.

According to Hellebore, she simply wandered out into the forest one night and came across a giant serpent that called herself Dendar. The serpent asked for Hellebore’s help defeating the Dark Plea, and the next thing she remembers is waking up at home and discovering that she could do magic. She did some research later and discovered that Dendar the Night Serpent “eats bad dreams” and that she couldn’t eat dreams influenced by the Dark Plea… If by eating the nightmares, this Dendar prevents one from remembering it in the morning, then I certainly hope she’ll eat mine, otherwise I doubt that I’ll get very much sleep. Such a benevolent patron certainly seems fitting for someone like Hellebore.

Once we were closer to the caverns, I flew ahead to scout, and make sure there weren’t any traps waiting for us. I didn’t see anything, so I waved the party on. As we approached the cave, we were greeted by the wizard, flanked by what appeared to be two beholders. The wizard shouted at us to come no further and retreated back into the cave to let the beholders deal with us. I tried to convince them to let us pass by threatening the safety of the egg I had found, but they just laughed at me. I realized it was probably worthless, and likely would hatch into something dangerous, so I tossed it aside and drew my sword. (Hellebore was not happy with me for this. She caught the egg and tucked it safely in her bag.)

That was when one of the beholders shot me with its petrification ray. It crept up my legs, turning them to stone, or, rather it seemed to. I somehow managed to shake off the illusion it had cast on me, and realized that the creatures were not, in fact, beholders, but merely gas spores, glamoured to look like beholders. I told this to the rest of the party, and this seemed to break the illusion entirely. Norkath and Aris took them out without any trouble, as I was having a hard time aiming my bow with only one eye.

With the “beholders” dealt with, the party entered the cavern. Inside was a pool of water with a waterfall flowing into it. The dwarves noticed something off about a stalagmite in the middle of the pool, and asked me to check out the upper part of it. I did so, and found a little lever in a hidden compartment that, when flipped, made the waterfall stop and revealed a cramped hidden tunnel behind it.

It was at this time that Hellebore spotted what appeared to be a small, hairless rodent of sorts that she immediately named “little dude” and chased after, while Norkath, Aris, Thirephum and Thorgrim climbed through the cramped tunnel. I honestly dreaded being in such a tightly enclosed space, so I chased after Hellebore. I didn’t want her to get hurt by running off alone either. Thales and Falgon followed after me. I managed to tackle and pin her right before she could run into a large cavern, where I could hear something moving around and chirruping. I told her that we needed to go back to the others, and chastised her for splitting the party. She promised that she would come back with me and, foolishly, I trusted her and let her up.

Hellebore immediately ran into the cavern and was attacked by three very large bats. I hate bats. They’re creepy, and their weird, featherless wings remind me of a dragon, which just screams danger. One of them bit Hellebore, paralyzing her. I fended them off while Thales and Falgon dragged Hellebore to safety, earning a few bites for my efforts. Luckily, the bats weren’t inclined to follow us into the corridor where they couldn’t fly, and I was able to make my escape as well. Hellebore recovered from the bat’s bite fairly quickly. Unfortunately, Aris gave the golem a command which caused it to collapse the tunnel behind us.

We decided to follow a side tunnel and there we spotted “Little Dude” again. Hellebore, of course, gave chase, determined to make it her pet. I ran after it as well, figuring if I caught it, it would at least prevent Hellebore from running off again. (My sister used to do the same thing with weasels. She would try to catch and tame every weasel she saw until I finally tracked one to its nest and brought my sister a baby that she could raise tame.) I managed to grab ahold of the creature’s leg, and it tried to bite me! I didn’t have any way to contain the creature… so I choked it until it passed out. Not my proudest moment, but I couldn’t think of another way to deal with it at the time.

Hellebore wasn’t too happy with me for hurting the creature. Right as I handed it off to her, a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere and struck the roof, causing rocks to fall on us. I drank one of the healing potions from my bag while Hellebore’s back was turned, then we made our way up a ladder to another small cavern. There we found two pirates, who I took my frustrations out on. We discovered that the guys had managed to deal with the rest of them on their own, and had rescued the dwarven crew. Thirephum was also weirdly large for some reason? Weirdness seems to follow him though, so I’ve given up on questioning it. It just leads to more questions.

I later asked the guys what happened while I was chasing Hellebore, and Norkath explained that he used his psionic abilities to convince the pirates that they killed by a hail of arrows. Both the pirate captain and the dwarven captain fell into the pool, so Aris and Norkath jumped into the pool to rescue them while Thorgrim and Thirephum dealt with the few pirates that resisted Norkath’s psionics. The two that I killed fled in terror. Thirephum did… something that made him grow very large (he blamed his armor?) and jumped into the pool, displacing enough water that it pushed Aris and Norkath to the edge and they were able to drag the captains out. They tied up the pirates that were “dying” and that’s when Hellebore and I found them.

As a thanks for rescuing him, the dwarven captain restored my eye with his healing magic. It took a few minutes for vision to return on that side, but when it did I wanted to cry with relief. The dwarves took the remaining pirates (who were now very angrily realizing that they were not, in fact, dying) and escorted them out the smaller exit tunnel. Thirephum took the pirate captain’s hat, and declared himself to be the new captain.

We made our way back out of the caves by going back the way Hellebore and I came. Aris told Jagermeister to dig himself out while we looked for another way out. We found a side tunnel that led back around to the entry cave. There, we were attacked by the wizard, who had made himself invisible. The coward hit me with some sort of blinding spell, and by the time it wore off, Aris and Thorgrim had him pinned and gagged. Hellebore, being Hellebore, took the wizard’s robe because it had cool-looking stars on it.

Aris and Hellebore tried negotiating with the wizard to remove Aris’ cursed ring, and for him to teach Hellebore how to make a new “Little Dude.” (apparently the creature was a spell construct of sorts, called a homunculus, and the wizard had cut off its life force as retribution for capturing him. Hellebore was quite distraught.) The wizard agreed to help them with their requests, so Aris removed the gag and unbound his hands. The wizard immediately teleported away instead of helping. Figures.

Jagermeister managed to dig himself out, so we all walked back to the ship. While we walked, I got the boy’s account of what happened in the caves, and addressed the egg Hellebore was still carrying. Aris recognized it from a book he’d found in the wizard’s room. It was a mimic egg! I felt my skin crawl at the thought that I had been carrying around a mimic. Luckily, Aris managed to convince Hellebore to give him the egg, and walked off out of sight with it. He later confided that he had destroyed the egg, but had done so out of sight to avoid upsetting Hellebore any further. Good riddance.

Upon arriving back at the ship, we found Glass waiting for us, and Falgon escorting the former prisoners off the ship. Thorgrim and I went over to help, as most of the former prisoners seemed quite weak after being neglected by the pirates for so long. Falgon informed me that his captain had ordered for the Nautiloid ship to be sunk, as it could still hold undiscovered dangerous things, that he didn’t want to fall into the wrong hands. I agreed, as the ship creeped me out, and we still hadn’t encountered the mindflayers that such a ship was supposed to belong to.

Once all of the former prisoners were off the ship, Thorgrim and I went to warn the others of the dwarves’ plans. Thirephum and Glass were not happy. They wanted to keep the Nautiloid (which Thirephum had named “Destiny”) and fly off with it. Thirephum dragged Hellebore off to the helm while the rest of the party left, along with Thales. I saw Thirephum cast some sort of spell on Hellebore, so I stayed, trying to talk some sense into her. I told her that if she stayed, she would be killed, and that the dwarves had shot the ship down before, so they could certainly do it again with a skeleton crew of only three. I even tried to forcefully grab Hellebore and drag her off, but Baby put herself between us and snarled. I didn’t want to hurt Baby, or Hellebore for that matter, so I backed off. Somehow, the three of them managed to get the ship off the ground.

Hellebore is much too big for me to carry in the air, and I couldn’t leave Baby and Rocks either, so I gave up and flew as fast as I could to the dwarven ship, to plead with the captain not to shoot them down. When I reached the ship, something… weird happened. A giant drill erupted from the earth, sending up a massive plume of snow. It clipped the rudder of the dwarven ship, but then fell down to earth. Luckily, Thorgrim had thought to cut the horses free before boarding the ship. I hope they made it, though I seriously doubt they did. Thorgrim was particularly upset by this, because he was quite fond of his war-horse.

The dwarves turned their artillery on the drill, but it didn’t really seem to do anything. Aris ordered Jagermeister to chase after the drill, since the Golem had been left on shore. Norkath mentioned that there was a rumor of a giant machine being responsible for the destruction of Waterdeep, and maybe this was it. Now that we were safely out of range of the drill, the dwarves turned back to the Nautiloid, which was limping rather slowly through the air. They shot the ship with a couple of harpoons, attached to heavy ropes. Thirephum came out to the deck, with a few spell-doubles crowded around him, and flipped us off. Norkath responded by using his psionic power to convince Thirephum he was dead, which was admittedly very entertaining.

The lunatic began spouting his last will and testament while the dwarves towed the Nautiloid higher and higher, so high that the air should have started to thin, and the sky began to darken. Higher than any Aarakocra had ever flown before, and the stars appeared. Thorgrim asked Falgon how we were still able to breathe. Falgon responded by dropping a weighted rope over the side of the ship, which fell for a bit before bouncing back up to his hand. Upon seeing this, I couldn’t resist jumping over the side. I bounced off some unseen force some thirty feet below the ship, and caught myself midair with my wings. Norkath and Thorgrim followed my lead, bouncing back and forth between the force-fields above and below the ship for a bit, wearing the biggest grins.

The dwarves reeled in the rope and dragged the Nautiloid closer, so Aris took the opportunity to jump across to the other deck. I caught Thorgrim (Norkath had the sense to tether himself) and deposited him on the deck of the ship before following Aris. Glass and Thirephum needed to be taught a lesson, and I was pretty pissed at them for manipulating Hellebore and putting her life in danger. Norkath jumped across, and slapped Thirephum to snap him out of the psionic illusion.

Aris was absolutely furious. He ordered Hellebore to go to the other ship. She took one look at me and Aris and left without resistance, taking Baby and Rocks with her. Aris and I each punched the two trouble-makers once. I gave Thirephum a pretty nasty-looking black eye, which I later felt bad about, when I realized that Glass was truly the one behind it, and Thirephum is just crazy and went along with her because it meant he could be captain. I’ll have to make it up to him somehow… provided he doesn’t endanger my friends’ lives again with his lunacy.

Thirephum, for some bizarre reason, stripped buck naked made the mistake of trying to wrestle Aris in return for being punched. It went about as well as anyone would expect. Somehow, Norkath got a bag of popcorn and was eating it while Thirephum tried to wrestle Aris. He gave me a few pieces. A bit salty for my taste, but not bad. Aris seemed rather disgusted and ordered Thirephum to put his clothes back on. In return for being defeated, Thirephum turned the Captain’s hat over to Aris, announcing that Aris was now the captain.

As we were all returning to the dwarven ship, Aris said something to glass that I very much agree with: “The elf is stupid, the dwarf is crazy but you, you’re something else. You’re manipulative, and I don’t trust you.” I wouldn’t say Hellebore is stupid though. Just rather naïve. She’d trusted Glass a little too readily, and was only trying to help.

The dwarven ship continued to sail towards the moon, towing the nautiloid until we were met by two massive battle cruisers. Not long after, we reached a large asteroid carved to look like a massive dwarf head. The mouth opened and we sailed through, landing in a lake inside. Around the lake was a city, carved into the inside of the asteroid.

We were escorted to the castle, where the King held a feast for us. He asked us for stories, so we regaled him with tales of our exploits. The king informed us that, as a reward for rescuing the dwarven crew, he would be gifting us with a ship like the one the dwarves had. By the time the feast was over, everyone was exhausted, so we agreed to check out our new ship in the morning.


	12. Letters to The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kilel writes a note to each of her party members

**To Glass**

I would like to start by apologizing. I should not have let my temper get the better of me. It was wrong for me to hit you, and I am sorry. I was angry, and scared, and frankly not in a sound state of mind, and you were simply an easy target for me to take that out on. I promise I will do better to control my temper in the future, and I hope to make amends for my mistake.

That being said, I still feel like your actions on the Nautiloid were out of line. The dwarven crew made their intentions very clear, and yet you convinced Thirephum and Hellebore to stay and put their lives at risk. They both have their parts in what happened, but Thirephum is completely insane and Hellebore was trying to help because YOU asked her to.

Hellebore clearly likes you. She can be quite naive. I, on the other hand, do not trust you yet but I will give you the benefit of the doubt and a word of caution: DO NOT betray Hellebore’s trust. If your actions cause Hellebore (or any of the other party members for that matter) to come to harm, there will be dire consequences. I don’t want for this to happen, however I will defend my friends to the death. I genuinely hope that you will one day be counted as a friend, and not a potential threat.

Adventuring parties only work when the members of the group can trust each other and cooperate. When a majority of the party agrees to a plan of action, it is best to follow suit, as we are far stronger when we work together. I understand that you believed a flying ship would benefit the party. I agreed with what you said. Flying is, indeed, the superior mode of travel. However, that ship in particular simply wasn’t suitable, and most of the party (and, importantly, our employer) agreed that it was better to abandon it.

And, to be frank, the damn thing was super creepy. We found a mimic egg on board, as well as an adult mimic, and it’s quite possible that we would have been hunted by mindflayers if we had kept it. The pirates were also extremely unhygienic. I have a very poor sense of smell, and the stench had me retching. (Speaking of which, I’m not entirely sure Thirephum has ever heard of “soap” and we should probably do something about that.)

Lastly, I would like to add that I know when someone is trying to manipulate me. People frequently underestimate my intelligence simply because I look like an animal and I do not appreciate it from my teammates. So cut the horseshit and don’t try to manipulate me again.

I hope we can move past our disagreements and work together in the future. Again, I am very sorry for letting my temper get the better of me earlier and I will try not to let it happen again.

Sincerely,

Kilel

p.s. Thank you for taking over the job of mending the party’s clothes. I can’t cast spells like you, so what takes you a few minutes takes me almost an hour.

* * *

**To Thirephum**

I want to apologize for hitting you earlier. I let my temper get the better of me, and it was wrong for me to take my anger out on you. I would offer to heal the black eye, but I don’t have your skill with magic.

I understand that you wanted to be the captain of the Nautiloid, but the dwarves were going to shoot it down and there’s simply no way you could have outrun them with only three or four crew members. I was angry because you and Glass endangered the life of my friend by convincing her to stay. This doesn’t excuse me losing my temper, of course, but I care for my friends and don’t want to see them get hurt.

Going forward, it’s best if you stick with the rest of the party. We’re far stronger when we’re together. Perhaps Aris will even give you the hat back, if you ask nicely. You seem like a pretty decent person, for a former pirate. I don’t really understand your magic though, and why it’s so chaotic… compared to, say, Hellebore or Glass. Who taught you to cast spells? I mean no offense, I’m just curious as to why your magic is so different.

Sincerely,

Kilel

* * *

**To Hellebore**

I know it may not always seem like it, but I genuinely care about you Hellebore. I don’t want to see you get hurt, so when I nag, it’s solely because I’m trying to keep you safe. I know Aris cares too. That’s why we were both so angry with you earlier. You were acting like an irresponsible child and your actions put people in danger.

I know, it’s ironic coming from a human and an Aaracokra who are probably 1/6th and 1/10th your age respectively. I’m not trying to parent you, but when you do stupid and reckless things that could potentially endanger your life, it’s hard not to worry.

Adventuring isn’t a game. I know you know this, but it doesn’t feel like you’re taking the danger seriously enough. Thorgrim and I very nearly died this morning. If it weren’t for Aris, I almost certainly would have. The bats we encountered in the cave could have killed us both. If Thales and Falgon hadn’t dragged you out of the way, they might have. The dwarven sailors could have killed you, Baby and Rocks when they shot down the Nautiloid. I’m very glad that the captain changed his mind and towed you in instead.

You have a good heart Hellebore. You do your best to try and help people and make friends with small animals. I admire that in you. My little sister is the same way. I don’t want to see you get hurt, or be taken advantage of by people unworthy of your trust. So please, I beg you, stick with the party when we’re in potentially dangerous situations. Don’t run off and chase small animals. Don’t go and pick up shiny things until we’ve cleared the area of threats.

Think of how your parents would feel if one of us had to tell them that you were killed by some creature. How would Baby react if you were killed? Who would take care of Rocks? I know Aris and I would be absolutely heartbroken. I’m sure the others would be too.

Just try to be more mindful of the dangers before you run off on your own again. A cute new pet does nothing for you if you’re killed trying to catch it. Be wary of others who would put you in harm's way for their personal gain. They aren’t worth your friendship.

Sincerely,

Kilel

p.s. Rocks is totally just playing dumb because it gets him more treats. Pigeons are crafty. Rocks exploits the fact that he’s adorable. He knows what he’s doing. Don’t give in, or he’ll be too fat to fly come next spring when his primaries grow back.

* * *

**To Thorgrim**

I would like to thank you for always being a reliable companion. You’ve helped me a few times in battle, and you’re definitely one of the more sane people in the party. 

Can I ask you to help keep an eye on Thirephum? He seems to like you more than the rest of us, since you’re both dwarves, and I worry about his sanity. Perhaps you could talk him into taking a bath.

If you want to get a drink some time, I’d love to hear the story of how you got mixed up in all of this.

Sincerely,

Kilel

* * *

**To Aris**

I can’t thank you enough for saving my life back on the ship. You’re easily one of the best fighters in the party, and I respect your prowess in battle. I still want to fight you and see who would win 1v1! We can discuss the terms of our fight in the morning, if you’re up for it!

I think we should both look out for Hellebore. I worry about her. Especially with Glass influencing her. I don’t trust Glass at all. We should definitely keep an eye on her. We should probably keep an eye on Thirephum as well. He seems relatively harmless, but a bit… insane.

Thanks for being a good friend.

Sincerely,

Kilel

* * *

**To Norkath**

I’m very sad to hear that you’re leaving the party. I’ve long since considered you one of my best friends, and I’ll miss having you around.

When I first joined the party, I appreciated that you were the only one who didn’t stare at me. I’m sure you understand how unnerving it is for people to stare at you like you’re some sort of freak. Since then I’ve grown to admire your skill with a bow, and tracking. Your psionic ‘tail’ powers are also pretty impressive.

If you make it back to the High Forest, be sure to head to the Star Mountains, near the headwaters of the Unicorn Run river. Ask for Kriel, she’s my younger sister, and tell her how you know me, and my people will welcome you for a visit.. 

I wish you the best in your future travels. Fair winds and clear skies my friend. Perhaps we’ll find each other again.

Sincerely,

Kilel


	13. 16th Day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dwarves hold a festival and the party gets up to some wacky shenanigans! Kilel totally kicks Aris' rear. totally.

I ended up getting a drink with the others last night after I’d written my journal entry for the night. I also wrote notes to each of each of the party members, individually addressing what had occurred yesterday and the day before. While I was writing, Norkath came in and confided that he planned on leaving the party when we returned to Toril. He said things had gotten too weird, and that he’d only joined the party because of his brother Vargoch. Honestly, I can’t say I blame him. The last couple days have been crazy. If I hadn’t vowed to try and stop the Dark Plea, I would certainly fly home after what happened yesterday.

When I went to deliver the letters to my party members, I discovered that the others had gone drinking. It wasn’t too hard to find them at the bar up the road. Everyone was in various states of intoxication when I arrived. Hellebore was sitting at the bar, flirting with the barmaid, who seemed a bit annoyed so I gently led her back to the table where the others were drinking. Aris insisted that I try one of the drinks, so I downed it and led the party back to the ship, half carrying Hellebore. Glass was nowhere to be found. She’d disappeared while the rest of us were choosing cabins on the ship. I’m not sure if she will be back.

In the morning, we discovered that the dwarves of Whitestone were hosting a festival to celebrate that they’d managed to relight the “Sol Forge” which is what they called the artificial sun that shown up in the fake sky. Most of the merchants were busy with the festival, so we couldn’t supply our ship until it was over. Falgon came by and gave each of us badges that signified we were honored guests, and invited us to join in the festivities, since we couldn’t really set sail without supplies anyways.

The first game we participated in was an archery contest. Best two out of three shots. Unfortunately, we were required to use a longbow, which I haven’t trained with like I have a short bow. Unsurprisingly, Norkath won, though Hellebore and I tied for second place. Aris got frustrated with the bow and resorted to throwing the arrows at the target. I have no idea what Thirephum was trying to do. Norkath won five specialty arrows that can put a target to sleep.

The next game we played was the chicken rodeo. The objective was simple, and the prize promises to be very good. (The woman running it promised either all the entry fees, or a ‘chick’ as a prize. Wouldn’t say what kind. Naturally, Hellebore is very excited.) All we had to do was run forward and catch the rooster they released on the other end of a large field. Norkath sat to the side to watch, and Aris wandered off to look for something.

When the event started, Hellebore immediately cast “speak with animals” and tried to coax the chicken over. What Thirephum did will likely haunt me for a while. I certainly won’t be able to look at him the same. While the rest of us were all scrabbling to catch the rooster, Thirephum seemed to think he could… seduce? it. I have no idea what he was thinking.

He used some spell to turn himself into a “sexy” chicken woman. The effect, overall, was simply horrifying. He had mammalian breasts. It was just all  wrong . He then doubled down by making himself grow to ten feet tall. This made a few of the children participating cry. At some point the rooster got flipped upside down, and went limp, as certain prey animals tend to when held on their backs and Thorgrim managed to grab it and break free of the crowd. Meanwhile, Thirephum, for no reason I can fathom, used magic to make three of himself, and started to glow again. Just picture it. Three, ten feet tall glowing chicken-ladies. It was horrible.

Finally, I snagged the rooster from Thorgrim, and managed to put enough distance between myself and the crowd that I was declared the winner. The prize would be drawn at the end of the day. It also occurred to me that today is the one month anniversary of when I joined this party of misfits. I decided to formally challenge Aris to a fistfight, no holds barred. I prepared my psionic powers, and so did he. Aris attacked recklessly, intent on doing as much damage as he could and not caring if he got hit in return. His attacks were so chaotic and unpredictable I couldn’t seem to avoid them, and my psionics didn’t seem to help. I barely managed to deal any damage before he knocked me out.

Lesson learned, Aris is definitely a tougher opponent than anticipated. I’m determined to get him next time though. I went back to the ship to patch myself up and meditate a bit while the others went off to play games. I’ll rejoin them in a bit.

* * *

When I met up with the group again, they were getting ready to play a carnival game, and I was promptly roped into participating. The rules were fairly simple: there were two teams of two playing. Norkath and I formed one team while a pair of halflings made up the other. One player from each team was to keep a bucket of water on their head while the other tried to knock it down with a sling and some rocks. There were circles marked on the ground that restricted where we could go. Water-bearers couldn’t leave the inner circle while the slingers couldn’t move past the outer one. The crowd could impose or remove restrictions by shouting rules to these odd little mechanical referees. 

The opposing team fought dirty, using spells to prevent their water from spilling, or to try and throw me off balance. Norkath and I were just as tricky. Norkath used his hunter’s magic to keep tabs on the halfling water-bearer, and we opened a mindscape so I could direct him without interference. At one point, the crowd ordered the water-bearers to lift one foot off the ground. I figured I could do one better and flew straight up! One of the halflings tried to grab me with a spectral hand and pull me down. The crowd then decided that flying wasn’t fair and ordered me to land. From there it turned into a bit of a shoving match between me and the halfling water-bearer. The crowd seemed to enjoy watching that. I’m sure if the halflings hadn’t been using the spell “shape water” then my competition would have spilled the entire contents of her bucket when I landed a solid hit to it with my wing.

Ultimately the contest ended when the crowd decided to allow me to fly again. I took to the air, and the other water-bearer used a spell to launch herself up after me. She fell, and I saw Norkath’s engram glow, and she hit the ground screaming in agony. The crowd went silent, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened, but the halfling shook herself free of the illusion rather quickly, seeming confused. We were declared the winners of the competition, as we technically hadn’t broken any rules. Norkath admitted, in our mindscape, to using the power he calls “Disable” on the halfling, which made her believe she was fatally injured. Clever lizard. 

While we were waiting for the start of the third and final event, my friends explained that they had caught those halflings cheating in the first event as well, which was a jousting competition. The horse they were riding had told Hellebore that the rider was just an empty suit of armor animated with magic. I don’t really know why they would trust a horse’s word on such matters, but they all seemed convinced, and the halflings very clearly had cheated in the second event.

The third event was an utter disaster. It was some sort of show where we had to walk along a runway and impress a trio of judges. We apprehended the pair of halflings again, wearing an enchanted trench coat that made them look like a pretty elf woman. I don’t know what they were planning. Norkath, the traitor, then suggested that I should compete in the first category which they called the “strut.” (His reasoning was “birds strut! And you’re plenty graceful! You’ll do fine!”) I was dragged backstage by Aris and Hellebore before I could really protest. I’m still not entirely sure what the judges wanted me to do, so I walked to the end of the runway and back. I earned the approval of one judge, so I suppose it could have been worse? It was mortifying nonetheless. 

Aris competed in the second category, which they called the “flex.” That one, at least, seemed straightforward, but somehow the idiot barbarian mucked it up. Instead of showing off his (admittedly quite impressive) muscles, he tried to scare the judges. Why? I don’t know. Either way, none of the judges appreciated it and he didn’t earn a single one’s approval.

Hellebore did quite well in the third category though, which was singing. She put on quite a show, even going so far as to enchant some pigeons so they were sparkly and pink. (I hope for the bird’s sake that the glitter goes away when the spell ends. Glitter is IMPOSSIBLE to get out of your feathers. Speaking from experience.) She earned two of the judge’s approval, and an enthusiastic round of applause from the crowd.

Overall, we lost the third competition, but since we won two out of three, we went to collect our prize. The carnie running the show stiffed us on the prizes. It turned out he was a complete fraud, and the cheaters we’d been dealing with worked for him. He managed to escape, but Norkath found some incriminating paperwork that the carnie had left and turned it over to the town guard. It turns out he’d been operating the show without a license and under a false name. He had already been banned from other festivals for the same sort of con artistry.

When we opened the prize chest, all that was in it was fake gold, and, weirdly, Thirephum. I have no idea how he got in there, and he wasn’t going to provide any answers. That guy confuses me. The town guard were able to refund the party’s entry fees though, so I suppose it was no harm in the end.

After dealing with that fiasco, we noticed the crowd was gathering in the square, so we wandered over to see what the fuss was about. There we saw the King, Captain Fulgrim and a couple other nobles. The King introduced one of the noblemen as a guest speaker, and he stepped forward to give this speech:

“We stand now at the completion of a truly monumental project: the relighting of the Sol Forge! There is no doubt that I, Vulkheart Everett have been given the honor of speaking due to my clan’s significant contributions, however, this is not just my achievement, nor does it belong to any one individual, for this is Whitestone’s achievement! Everyone who resides within this great hold has worked tirelessly to bring this goal to fruition and every contribution, no matter how small, has not been wasted. Behold! The culmination of your efforts!”

At that, the fake sun in the sky began to glow much brighter, actually rivaling the way the true sun was before the impacts. I’m afraid I’ve grown so accustomed to the ever-present gloom of the clouds that I’d nearly forgotten just how wonderful it was to see the bright sunshine, and feel its warmth on my feathers. Vulkheart said something else, but it was lost to the roar of the crowd. 

From there, we were called away to draw the prize for the chicken rodeo. We followed the woman back to the field at the edge of town. Thirephum and Hellebore went off to play with a horse that was grazing in the field while I went to claim the prize. I was dreadfully curious to see what sort of “chick” they were giving, but I would have been fine with the gold too. Honestly, it was more about the competition than the prize, which made it even more delightful when the woman led out a scraggly-looking roc chick. 

She explained that it was a variety known as a “skyjek roc” that doesn’t get as enormous as a normal roc, but would still grow large enough to ride. He was absolutely adorable! Clearly, he was only just old enough to be exploring outside the nest. He was still covered in baby down and pin-feathers, but I could tell he’ll be a handsome sandy golden-tan when he’s finished fledging. I was instantly in love with the little guy, and he immediately imprinted on me, sticking close to my side and running his beak through my tail feathers. I named him Bronzewing. I vowed to Bronzewing that I would never let him come to harm as long as I could help it. He seemed to like hearing me speak my native language. There’s an intelligent gleam in his eye that makes me wonder exactly how much he may have understood, but perhaps that’s just my imagination.

By then, it was starting to get somewhat late, so we headed back to the bar to have a bit of fun. I’m currently sitting in the corner with Baby, Rocks and Bronzewing. Somehow Thirephum managed to get the damn horse inside the bar. (Hellebore says his name is Thunder.) As I’m writing this, Thirephum is trying to convince Thunder to drink some ale, and trying to convince me to let him get Bronzewing drunk. (I said hell no, he’s a baby.) 

If anything else interesting happens before we go back to the ship, I’ll be sure to note it here.


	14. The Attack On Whitestone (16th day of Elasias Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A cult attacks the dwarven city of whitestone and its up to the party to save the city from falling out of the sky.

A lot happened last night, and by the time we made it back to the ship, I was far too exhausted and injured to write it all down. I’m writing this over breakfast with the rest of the party.

The city of Whitestone was attacked while we were at the bar. It started with loud rumbling and banging sounds from the Sol Forge before it went out and the city was plunged into darkness. The bar patrons all ran outside to see what was going on, and while we were standing outside, a monsterous tentacle-arm reached out the window and grabbed a dwarf, dragging it back inside. Thirephum ran in after it, and the rest of us ran after him, but the thing was already gone. Norkath picked up the creature’s trail, leading out the back door. Norkath decided that he was too drunk to come with us, so he went to take the animals back to the ship while I followed the creature’s trail.

We ran down the alleyway to find a group of cultists in red robes had cornered Vulkheart, Captain Fulgrim and the King. We immediately launched ourselves into the fight and killed the cultists while Captain Fulgrim ushered the king to safety. Glass reappeared during the fight, and she was strangely very large. For a nobleman, Vulkheart proved quite capable in battle. Unfortunately, Thirephum was up to his shenanigans again. Somehow he managed to grow even larger than Glass, and proceeded to jump a good twenty feet in the air, then come crashing back down on top of me and the trio of cultists I was fighting. The cultists were crushed to death under his enormous weight. I somewhat managed to jump out of the way, but he knocked me down and I hit my head on the cobblestones, briefly falling unconscious.

As we were killing the last of the cultists, we heard Fulgrim shout for us to follow him, and that the King was in danger. Hellebore, being Hellebore, instead chose to run off down a side alley after the monster we had been chasing. Thorgrim and Thirephum followed her while Aris, Glass, Vulkheart and I ran towards the castle. We came across another cultist while we ran, painting a symbol on a wall in his own sticky blue blood. He was strangely mutilated, missing his hand so that his arm ended in two sharp points of bone. Vulkheart and I ended his suffering quickly and we ran on to the castle. In the shadows, we could see that we were being chased by a large group of… something.

We got to the castle just as they were shutting the gates. There were dozens of distressed civilians milling about, so we shouted for Fulgrim to usher them all inside the castle proper. We were met by a sea-elf cleric, who was kind enough to heal my wounds a little. Sadly, I’m afraid in the chaos between then and when I’ve finally been able to sit down and write this, that I’ve forgotten her name. Pity, she was quite brave in the face of danger. Hopefully we’ll find her again and convince her to join our crew.

As we were preparing for battle, I realized that we’d somehow managed to lose Glass again. I didn’t really have time to ponder how we could have lost track of a ten-foot-tall demon-woman as something large slammed against the gate, hard enough to crack the wooden bar holding it shut. I flew up to the top of the wall to see a large group of mutilated cultists. Some were missing limbs, or bore seemingly mortal wounds, yet they were still animated. One was missing its eyes, and seemed to be scenting the air with its tongue. With the cultists were two large… abominations is the only word I can think to use. Twisted mounds of animated flesh and limbs and eyes. I shudder just thinking about them.

I was soon joined on the wall by Vulkheart and the sea-elf. Upon seeing the abominations, Vulkheart let out a colorful string of swears in a variety of languages. Vulkheart and I proceeded to rain down crossbow bolts and arrows on the invaders, thinning the herd of cultists before they could breach the doors. Aris waited down in the courtyard, having little skill with fighting at range. Several of the cultists lashed at us on the wall with their tentacles, forcing us to crouch down behind the wall between volleys to avoid being grabbed. The sea elf, in a stroke of brilliance, managed to essentially blind the one that had been tracking us by scent using a block on incense from her bag. It spent the rest of the fight wandering around in a daze before I finally killed it, to prevent it from hurting anyone it stumbled across.

After a few strong hits from the abominations, the gates eventually gave way, and Aris launched himself into the fight. He ripped a tentacle from one of the beasts and beat it to death with its own severed limb, which was admittedly awesome, if rather grotesque. He got swarmed by the remaining cultists, so I flew down to help before the remaining abomination could finish him off. Vulkheart seemed to have the same idea, because he leaped from the wall onto the creature’s back, impaling it with his longsword. We made short work of the remaining cultists as it began to rain.

I took the opportunity to clean as much of the blood and gore from my feathers as I could, and we went inside the castle to patch ourselves up and rest for an hour. Vulkheart took the opportunity to change clothes while I stitched the large wound across Aris’ chest and bandaged the others on him and myself. Stories of the chaos engulfing the city poured into the castle while we were waiting. Cultists had taken over the control room of the Sol Forge and were performing a ritual that threatened to make Whitestone fall from the sky. The military docks were covered in some sort of… flesh, and there were reports of cultists all over the city.

When we finally got back to the ship at the end of the day, I got the others to tell me what happened while we were defending the castle and the civilians.

The trio followed the creature’s trail down the alleyway, and ran into Norkath, who’d wandered off after leaving the animals at the ship. Together, they went down into the sewer, where Norkath tracked it to the university. There, they found that the scientists at the university had been studying the creature, which they had found on the nautiloid. They discovered that a few of the scientists had been infected by this creature, and therefore had one growing inside of them. They found a halfling in the basement and watched as a creature with four arms and a gaping mouth emerged from the poor man’s chest. Norkath killed that one by throwing his lantern on it, but then they were attacked by the one they had originally been tracking. They managed to kill it, but Thorgrim was nearly infected by its spawn. At some point during the fight, Thirephum’s magic caused him to grow a foot taller, seemingly permanently. (I was pretty taken aback when I saw him approaching the castle, now taller than me.) I witnessed another of these creatures, which Norkath named “Enteroks” later in the evening, and it was truly horrific, but I will get to that in a moment.

After slaying the beasts in the university, Norkath wandered off to go guard the ship while Hellebore, Thirephum and Thorgrim joined us at the castle. While Thorgrim was inspecting one of the cultist’s bodies, its head began to swell, then it burst. Out sprang a very frog-like creature, but with tentacles on its back. One of the noblemen ran out with a bucket and trapped the creature underneath. As we discussed the cultists, and what to do with the “frog,” the creature seemed to be growing in size until it took both Aris and Vulkheart to hold the bucket down. We decided that we should move it to a more secure container. The crazy nobleman (who I learned was the mayor of one of the districts of Whitestone) wanted us to release it and follow it to its “mother.” The rest of us unanimously agreed that dealing with the cultists in the Sol Forge was far more important, and so Thirephum used a spell to shrink the creature back down (it had grown to almost the size of a mastiff!) and they stuffed it inside a metal chest. They instructed the mayor to lock that chest inside another chest, then chain it, then put the second one inside another chest.

With the frog taken care of, we decided to head off to the military docks to see if any of the soldiers there could help us. What we found was yet another horror. The archway that would normally open into the docks was covered by a wall of flesh. Aris, being Aris, immediately decided that punching it was the best option and started trying to dig his way through with his fists. Hellebore lit her blade with green flames and started to hack at it, and Thirephum cast a spell that caused the flesh around the wound Aris had made to rot away, leaving a hole large enough for us to enter.

Just as I was about to follow my companions into the darkness, a ball of lightning appeared behind me, nearly shocking me, as a white-scaled dragonborn appeared. Strangely, he was fully nude, and his armor and equipment appeared separately a few seconds later. He introduced himself as Bejik Molik, claiming to be a knight, sent here to stop the forces of darkness that had destroyed his realm. We told him that he could join if he proved himself to be trustworthy.

Inside, the air was uncomfortably humid. My sword was glowing brighter than I’d ever seen it, and the whole place bore an uncomfortable feeling. In the lantern-light, I could see the shadow of what appeared to be ribs. It felt like we’d been swallowed by some massive creature, and part of me is afraid that that notion isn’t too far off. Everything was covered in this strange resin. The place was creepy. It wasn’t helped by the fact that Bejik started talking to himself. He then told us that we were going in the wrong direction: the creatures we sought were near the heat exchangers. Reluctantly, we allowed him to lead us in that direction, hoping to find whatever soldiers might have remained alive.

We did find the soldiers; encased in that same strange resin and all desiccated. I was about to attempt to cut one free, but Thorgrim shouted “No! Don’t!” I asked him why not, and he explained that they’d seen this stuff before, when they’d gotten separated. Reluctantly, we turned to go, but as we were walking away, one of the creatures started to emerge from the resin, now fully transformed into one of the beasts that Hellebore’s group had fought, if smaller. Hellebore, Aris and Thorgrim immediately attacked the creature.

I managed to stun the creature with a solid punch to its face, which kept it from attacking any of my companions. It shook off my second attempt to stun it, but by then it was so badly wounded that we managed to kill it before it had the opportunity to wound any of us in return. Another of the strange creatures began to show signs of emerging from its cocoon, so Vulkheart threw his lantern at the mess of resin, lighting it on fire. Bejik informed us that there were more of the creatures up ahead, and we decided to just leave. We’d come to find backup, and there was nobody here that could help us. I fanned as much of the smoke away with my wings as I could, and we left. Aris left a trail of lantern oil out to the entrance, and lit it once we were out. Hopefully it burns as many of the creatures as possible.

From there, we ran towards the abandoned mines at the edge of the city. The cultists had blocked off the primary entrance to the Sol Forge, but there was a back way in through the mines. I’m loath to go underground, but it’s unfortunately necessary. As we made our way through the patch of forest outside the mines, we came across a flock of birds. They appeared to have been mutilated by the cultists. Hellebore attempted to speak with the birds. She asked them what had happened, and started to cry. She declined to tell me what the birds had said. (Normally I can sort of understand other avians, or at least catch the gist, but I couldn’t understand a word of what this flock was saying. Strange.)

Nearer to the entrance of the mine, we stumbled across four cultists mutilating a pair of elk. Upon seeing us, the elk stood up to charge. We managed to fend them off. Thorgrim was wounded by one of the elk’s antlers, but not severely so, then we pressed onward. When we reached the entrance to the mine, things somehow started getting  _ even more _ bizarre. I began to wonder if I’d hit my head harder than I’d thought and was hallucinating this whole mess. If the others hadn’t corroborated what I saw, I wouldn’t have believed it. Frankly, I’m still having trouble believing it.

Scattered at the mouth of the mine were hundreds of frog bones. Even more concerning, the entire mine shaft was covered in the same blue jelly-like substance that the cultists and their twisted necromantic creatures bled. It smelled indescribably good. It briefly crossed my mind that if it smelled this good, it must also taste amazing, and I felt compelled to try and taste it. Luckily, I realized that the smell must have been caused by some sort of compulsion magic, and that tasting it would likely have dire consequences. Everyone else seemed to experience the same compulsion, and Vulkheart and I narrowly managed to keep Aris and Thorgrim from sampling the blue ooze.

The moment we’d shaken off the compulsion, the air turned foul and I was overcome with anxiety. I despise being underground in the best of circumstances, but this was far beyond normal claustrophobia or nerves. I felt nearly paralyzed by it. I noticed the others seemed a bit shaken as well, so I reasoned that it must be another form of compulsion caused by the ooze, and did my best to ignore the fear as we delved deeper into the mine.

As we made our way, with Aris and I carrying torches, the air seemed to shift repeatedly between sweet and foul. It was tantalizingly sweet again when we found ourselves in a cavern, and were met with a curious sight: Dozens of pure white, red-eyed squirrels were drinking from the pools of ooze. They seemed perfectly docile. Hellebore says they mostly ignored her when she tried talking with them, instead ranting about how delicious the slime was. In the center of the cavern was a statue that resembled the weird frog-creature we’d captured at the castle. It had eyes made of black gemstone, which Hellebore promptly attempted to steal. Aris held her back, so she pleaded with Thorgrim to take the gems, which he did before I could stop him.

The moment he removed the statue’s eye, the air went foul again and the squirrels froze and turned to look at him. Thorgrim handed the gemstone to Hellebore, and the squirrels’ collective gaze followed it. More of the creatures seemed to be appearing from the shadows as they stared. Then, as a collective horde, the squirrels charged at Thirephum, Thorgrim and Hellebore. Thorgrim reacted swiftly and threw his hammer at the horde charging Hellebore, obliterating nearly half the group. At the same time, the squirrels began to glow, and a wave of confusion and dizziness swept over the party. Vulkheart, Bejik and I managed to shake it off, but everyone else seemed disoriented. Thorgrim and Thirephum seemed dazed while we started pulling squirrels of of them. Thorgrim suddenly bolted, running straight into the statue, and I ran after him to finish off the horde. Aris and Hellebore shook off their confusion and started dealing with the remaining squirrels on Hellebore.

We finally managed to rid our unfortunate companions of squirrels, save one, who tried to bolt. I caught it, fearing the furry fiend would run off to warn our enemies, but Hellebore reassured me that he seemed to be back to normal, and begged me to let him go, which I reluctantly did. (I could tell she really wanted to keep it as a pet, but the creature was completely terrified. Understandable, given we were surrounded by the bodies of hundreds of its slain brethren.) Hellebore picked up the gemstones, which she’d dropped during the fight in hopes it would halt the attack, and we continued on into the mines.

We came across a locked steel door. Aris’ ring claimed it could cast the spell “Knock” and open the door if Aris gave it three gold pieces. He reluctantly fed the ring the gold, but instead of casting “Knock” the ring merely kissed the door. Deciding he’d had enough of this nonsense, Aris finally decided to let me cut off his finger! As soon as this was said, the ring yelled “See you on the astral plane!” and Aris disappeared. Luckily, he was just invisible, not transported to another plane of existence. He splashed some water against the wall to make an outline of his hand. I asked Bejik if he’d be willing to heal the wound, and he agreed. The moment my sword was in position, the stupid ring tried to shock me! I jumped back to avoid the lightning, and Vulkheart jumped forward, swiftly severing the finger before the ring could react again.

Aris popped back into view, and as a final act to try and avoid being put in the bag of holding, the ring cast Regenerate on Aris, making his finger grow back. Aris still put the ring in the bag, still stuck on his severed finger. Realizing we had no way to open the door, we turned back and went down the other side-path we had encountered. It was narrow, and we had to move single-file down it.

Suddenly, Aris, Vulkheart and Thirephum, who were in the lead, were enveloped in total darkness. I heard a weird squishing, flapping sort of sound, and heard them each make noises of distress, so, with a great deal of trepidation, I moved forward into the darkness. I came across Aris first. He had something on his head, which he couldn’t get off. I managed to kill the creature. The rest of the fight was a chaotic blur, but I managed to piece together what happened from the other’s accounts. The three that were enveloped in darkness were first attacked by these squid-like creatures, which attached themselves to the victim’s head. The squids seemed to be the source of the darkness, as when they were gone, the darkness disappeared as well. It blocked all sources of light, including our torches and spells. I suspect they may have been affecting our vision rather than the light in the area, but that is merely speculation.

While we were dealing with the face-squids, we were simultaneously attacked by a creature that looked like a stalagmite, but with tentacles. And teeth. We managed to kill it after driving off the squids, but it was nearly impossible to deal with when we couldn’t see. All we could do was feel around and hack at the tentacles. Vulkheart managed to escape the tentacle’s grasp, and ran out of range of the squid’s magical darkness to find a wizard. He promptly tackled and tied up the wizard while we fought the creatures.

With the monstrosities dead or driven off, we all turned attention to the wizard. He introduced himself as Sereth, the Keeper of the Keys. I did, indeed, find a ring of keys on him, but not one that matched the particular key hole on the steel door. Then Aris realized that the name “Sereth” was familiar. The Mayor had told us to look for his friend Sereth, who was a powerful wizard. Interrogation proved to be fruitless. The man was clearly driven insane by the cult, and claimed he couldn’t remember anything beyond a few hours ago. He claimed it was his duty to determine who was worthy to stand in the presence of his master, the “Golgoroth.” He told us that we’d find the password somewhere in his room.

Inspecting the objects scattered around the room, we found a few series of numbers inscribed into a few of them. It took a bit of puzzling, but we managed to crack the code and open the door. Sereth told us that we’d find the key to the control room in “the pit among his children.” We wandered down the passageway to encounter another area of impenetrable darkness, and a loud cacophony of croaking. Aris and Bejik braved the pit and Bejik quickly found the key. They confirmed that the pit was full of more of the frog creatures.

We backtracked back to the steel door and unlocked it with the key Bejik found. We were greeted by a pair of seemingly friendly cultists. We told them that we’d come to “bask in the glory of the Golgoroth” and luckily they didn’t question it, instead pointing us in the direction of the beast. I had to drag Aris along to keep him from punching their “stupid smiling faces.”

We managed to kill the Golgoroth with relative ease. It tried to use some sort of mind magic on us, and sent Vulkheart running away, screaming, but the rest of us managed to resist. I flew in first to try and attack it, but couldn’t seem to land a hit. Luckily, while I had it distracted, Hellebore and Thorgrim managed to make short work of the beast with their spells and hammer respectively. One of its tentacles injured Aris rather severely, but Bejik tended to his wounds after the fight, and we emerged relatively unscathed. We then tuned our attention to the Sol Forge controls.

Vulkheart came back, seeming a bit embarrassed that he’d run screaming. He said that it seemed the cultists had overloaded the furnace. Aris responded by yanking the star-milk fuel out of the furnace. Shockingly, a woman appeared in a flash of light when the fuel was removed from the furnace. With her was Hellebore’s cat Baby, but her eyes were serpent-like and there was a glowing purple stripe going down the length of her body. According to Hellebore, Baby was possessed by her patron Dendar. He demanded to be fed with someone’s bad dreams.

We powered the Sol Forge back up by putting Aris’ cursed ring in the furnace. This appeared to stabilize it for the time being. The mysterious woman introduced herself as Elorian, and explained she had been wandering the shallows when Baby had approached her and instructed her to follow. Next thing she knew, she was in the control room. She didn’t seem to have any ill intent towards us, so I was too tired to really worry about her story.

All the cultists seemed to have gone unconscious when we killed the Golgoroth. Baby paused to bite a few of them on the neck, presumably so Dendar could feast on their dreams. We came across a room piled with gems and gold that the cultists had been hoarding, and Hellebore gathered as much as she could carry. Aris put the rest in his bag of holding to distribute later.

We retrieved Sereth from where we’d left him tied up, and we headed back to the castle. The chaos seemed to have died down, and the townsfolk were starting to clean up. At the castle Vulkheart revived Sereth by dunking his head in a barrel of water. Unfortunately, the wizard seemed to have completely lost his mind and simply counted, ignoring any questions addressed to him.

We heard some concerning explosions coming from the direction of the military docks, and went to investigate. When we got there, the wall of flesh had been blown open, and as we made our way through, everything appeared to have been scorched or destroyed by explosions. We headed towards the ships to see the Nautiloid setting sail, with Glass aboard, now even taller than before. Her metal arm was wreathed in darkness. Hellebore used some sort of spell to teleport herself on board and ran up to Glass, demanding to know what was going on. I flew after them, but even after Thirephum cast a spell on me that made me much faster, I couldn’t keep up with the ship as it started to gain speed.

Glass didn’t seem to acknowledge Hellebore, so the elf, finally making a rational decision for once, teleported back towards me, now too far from the docks to make it all the way. Unfortunately, she was far too heavy for me to fly with. I strained to keep us aloft as Hellebore shouted that her bag was full of gems and it would drag her down if I set her in the water. I was forced to set her down though, try as I might, and Hellebore used her cloak to transport herself to the astral plane, to buy some time while Aris swam out to help. He managed to drag her back to the docks, and dumped the rest of her gems into his bag as punishment. Hellebore sulked the rest of the night.

Glass and the Nautiloid flew off, and we inspected the docks to find that all the enterocks had been disposed of. Deciding there was nothing more for us to do for the night, Vulkheart went back to the castle, and the party returned to the ship, Bejik and Elorian in tow. Little Bronzewing was quite happy to see me, which warmed my heart, as exhausted as I was. I went back to my room and passed out for the night. I suspect the King will want to have a word or two with us after breakfast. I’m glad we managed to keep the city from crashing into the moon, or otherwise falling into ruin.


	15. 17th day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party licks their wounds after the battle, and return to Toril

We spent most of the day recovering from last night’s battle. When I got up, Aris approached me and asked for my help creating a tattoo of one of my psionic powers. He offered to give me a tattoo in return, but I declined, as it would necessitate plucking a patch of feathers from my arm which is quite painful. He drew the design on himself and I simply had to charge it with my psionic armor. It was admittedly quite interesting, but I still wouldn’t bother getting a tattoo myself.

Aris tried petting Bronzewing, who was relaxing on the deck with me, but the little Roc wasn’t having it. He snapped his beak at Aris sharply, attempting to bite the barbarian’s hand. This elicited a laugh from Elorian, who’d apparently been watching the entire exchange. Her laugh startled me, and I’m ashamed to say that I nearly hit her on reflex. I suppose the stress of the last few days has had me on edge. Elorian didn’t seem upset though, and apologized for startling me.

Aris excused himself to go shop for supplies while I sat and talked a bit with Elorian over breakfast. Apparently she had spent the last eight years of her life in the Shallows, hunting the monsters there and searching for a way out. I was also slightly horrified to learn that she hadn’t slept or eaten in those eight years. She seemed a bit at first when I offered her some food before seemingly remembering what it was for. I’ll have to keep an eye on her. She’s certainly an odd one.

After breakfast I went shopping for supplies. I purchased two health potions for myself, as I expect we will be facing many dangerous enemies where we are going next. I also purchased some spare clothes and some furnishings for my cabin on the ship, now that I have a place to store such things I otherwise wouldn’t want to carry.

On my way out of the shop, I spotted Aris and Thirephum headed towards the library. Thirephum cheerfully informed me that they were looking for Vulkheart, and that Aris was going to challenge him to a contest of strength to see if he’s worthy to join our crew. I decided to follow to keep the two of them out of trouble.

We found Vulkheart buried in a veritable mountain of books, arranged like the walls of a fort. They ranged in subject from Psionics to Eberon and many other subjects pertaining to the events of last night. He looked like he hadn’t slept a wink. Aris walked up to him, and claimed that Vulkheart needed to beat him in a contest of strength if he wanted to join our crew. (The idea had been discussed in passing last night, but Vulkheart seemed unsure at the time whether he wanted to come with us.) Vulkheart snorted and replied: “Sorry Captain Aris, but your authority is not recognized in Fort Everett.”

I reminded Vulkheart that Aris wasn’t  _ actually _ the captain, which seemed to annoy the barbarian further. After some cajoling though, Vulkheart relented to an arm wrestling contest with Aris. What remained of Aris’ ego was badly bruised as Vulkheart literally flipped him out of his seat, sending him sprawling across the floor. Oh how I wish I could have captured the moment in an image! After we were done laughing at Aris, Vulkheart decided that he  _ would _ be joining us, and would bring his things aboard shortly.

After that, we went back to the ship, and were met by Fulgrim and the King, who thanked us for our service to the city last night. They still had a lot of repairs to do, and would need to find more fuel for the Sol Forge, but they provided us with provisions for our crew as thanks.

Once Vulkheart was safely aboard, we departed from Whitestone, descending through the ever-present clouds, and flying back to Dragonskeep. The League of Astronomers were quite surprised to see our new ship (which was dubbed the “Miss Fortune” by Thirephum. The name seemed to have stuck). The stronghold had been expanded quite a bit since we left, but, shockingly, the Ark was nowhere to be found, only a divot in the stone where it had been moved to for safekeeping.

Serena informed us that some time last night a Nautiloid ship had flown in and stolen the Ark. Serena had managed to save a number of the Engrams, several of which she wore on her body, but many more were kept in a miniature version of the Rune Sea. A rune pool, if you will. Serena begged for help in recovering the Ark. With what little description she was able to provide of the ship, we concluded that the culprit must have been none other than Glass. We vowed to hunt her down as soon as we had fulfilled our contract to Thales.

Serena also gave engrams to the newest members of our party. Bejik seemed rather reluctant. Vulkheart and Thirephum were both quite interested in receiving psionic powers. Elorian was more interested in the Engrams themselves, rather than the psionic powers they conferred, stating that her people already possessed innate psionic abilities. Serena was quite eager to pass on the engrams, stating they were safer with us than in the pool or with her.

She went on to explain that each engram was the remnant of a long-extinct race of beings, and that she wanted to keep them safe as they were the only thing that remained of their memory. She asked if any of us would be willing to learn to take more than one Engram, so that if we came across others in our travels, we could bring them back for safekeeping. Hellebore, Elorian and I all agreed to, and spent the next couple hours learning to take more than one engram. Elorian ended up keeping both a red and a blue engram, while Hellebore took a green in addition to the white one she already bore. For the time being, I did not take a second engram.

We then went to the forge to look for Iron Soul and Fenton. Hellebore was quite distressed to learn that Fenton had been in a coma for nearly a week, with no sign of waking. She consulted Dendar, who was still possessing Baby, and asked if there was anything we could do to wake him. Dendar concluded that Fenton seemed to be stuck in the Shallows, and that there was a possibility that we would find him when we went there to fulfill our mission. Hellebore didn’t seem very reassured by this, but declared that she would do everything in her power to rescue Fenton.

By then it was late afternoon, so we decided to head out in the morning. I spent the time trying to socialize Bronzewing a little. Most people were too afraid to try and feed him, but he seemed to like Vulkheart, and of course got along with Hellebore, who used her magic to talk with him. We gathered a few more crew members from the people in the stronghold, enough that we could properly man the ship should we need to fly it in combat.

We made preparations for tomorrow's journey, and retired after an early dinner to rest up.


	16. 18th day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party makes their first trip into the Shallows

Our trip into the shallows proved to be more dangerous than most of us were expecting. We sailed to the Plane of Standing Stones where the crater was located, and found a portal waiting for us. I was the first to go through, and, much to my dismay, I found two phrensies waiting for me on the other side. I flew back out as quickly as my wings could carry me, shouting a warning to my companions. One of the monstrosities followed me through.

It was a very difficult fight. The beast attacked us with spinning, blade-like claws, wounding me quite severely. I briefly blacked out from the pain. When I came to, Aris and Thorgrim had jumped through the portal to deal with the other phrensey, while the rest of the party dealt with the remaining one, which had since split into two lesser monsters. Elorain’s arrows struck true, wounding the beast quite severely. I managed to dodge its claws and take to the air to avoid further injury. Then I saw something quite shocking: Vulkheart appeared to take the form of a wolf, and began to attack the phrensies. He swung his sword a furious frenzy, opening massive wounds before ripping its throat out with his teeth!

With the beasts vanquished, Vulkheart immediately seemed to relax, and his normal human mannerisms returned, though he remained in his lupine form. He wiped the blood from his face and turned to the party with an apologetic look. In that moment he bore a striking resemblance to the puppy my sister had “rescued” from a hunter years ago. It was almost as shocking as the transformation itself to see the proud, confident soldier so rattled. Then he spoke:

“I’m sorry to have kept this secret from all of you. People tend to react negatively when they learn of my curse. I swear I am not a danger to any of you.”

“So you’re a werewolf?” Thirephum questioned. “But it’s not the full moon.”

“I’m not sure. It seems I was born with this curse.”

“Hmm… as long as you don’t put any of us in danger. But I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

Vulkheart merely nodded, and shifted back to his normal human appearance. The rest of the gathered party assured Vulkheart that, so long as he didn’t turn on us when he shifted, then we didn’t mind his ‘curse.’ I’d like to note that I've read a bit about werewolves: the monastery had quite a large library, with an extensive section on various monsters, and stories of people turning into beasts have always been a fascination of mine. All the stories agree that a werewolf’s transformation is involuntary, painful, and that they lose their minds while transformed. That information, along with the fact that it was the middle of the day, and a waning half-moon the night prior, leads me to believe that Vulkheart isn’t a werewolf. I have no idea what he could be, but I believe him when he says that he won’t pose a threat.

A few moments after Vulkheart shifted back, Thorgrim and Aris jumped back through the portal. The rest of us seemed to reach a silent understanding that it was up to Vulkheart to inform the two of them of his secret, as we all turned our attention back to the portal without mentioning it to them. Thorgrim and Aris explained to everyone the odd physics of the portal. To go through on our side, you had to jump down, but upon passing through the portal, the world seemed to turn 90 degrees, so that you were suddenly moving parallel to the ground. I’d noticed it while flying, but was too caught up by the phrensey’s attack to mention it. I find that it’s far easier to recover from that sort of disorientation while flying anyways.

While they were talking, I used a psionic trick I learned from Aris to heal my wounds a bit, and drank one of the potions I’d bought in Whitestone. After a bit of deliberation, Thorgrim decided to tie a length of rope to one of the immovable rods and lower it down into the portal, to make it easier to get back out. Then, as a group, we made our way into the shallows.

We seemed to be standing on some sort of floating island. Thales explained that it used to be the courtyard, and led us inside the nearby building. There, we found the bodies of what appeared to be another party of adventurers. I suspect they were killed by the phrendeys, but they had since been partially eaten. Thales seemed to go a bit pale upon seeing the bodies. At first, when Thorgrim asked, he denied any recognition, but after a bit of pressuring, Thales admitted that he had hired the party before he’d hired us, and had wondered what had become of them. This was the first of several red flags Thales raised during this excursion.

Thales insisted that he’d come with us this time to prevent the same from happening, but I could tell that everyone was somewhat suspicious of him now. The party members that spoke dwarvish (that being Elorian, Vulkheart, Thorgrim and Thirephum) had a discussion, which Elorian later confirmed was the four of them agreeing to keep a closer eye on him, and Thorgrim telling the other three a bit more about when we were initially hired by Thales.

We didn’t have the time or means to properly bury the bodies, so Hellebore used her magic to burn them, so at least they wouldn’t be disturbed by any more monsters lurking about. We continued on through the building, and came to a room with a fountain full of sparkling orange liquid. Thales said it replenished psionic energy, and my curiosity was piqued, as I’d used quite a bit of it healing myself, but I was hesitant to try it. Thales took a drink from it first, to assure everyone it was safe, and so I tried it too. It was quite refreshing, tasting like oddly fizzy oranges. The liquid itself was quite sparkly and interesting to look at, so Hellebore tried to bottle some for later. Unfortunately, it lost its luster and magical properties as soon as it was removed from the room.

In the next room, we came across a child. She seemed to be a young human girl, and she was crying, frightened. She was oddly translucent, like she wasn’t really there. Upon seeing us, she begged us to save her from “the monsters,” which I gathered to mean the phrensies. We assured the little girl that we were here to kill the monsters, and that she was safe now. Elorian told us she was a dreamer that had accidentally wandered into the shallows. She’d encountered them before in her travels. The little girl was clinging to Hellebore now, and she seemed to have calmed down. Tearfully, she told us she kept having the same bad dream, and this “was the part where the monsters would get her.” Hellebore decided that she would take the girl back to the ship, and Aris went with her for protection. According to them, the girl began to fade once they exited the portal, and had disappeared entirely by the time Hellebore had retrieved Baby, so she could try and consult Dendar through her possessed cat. (Those snake eyes are really starting to creep me out. Baby was so much more friendly before she was possessed. At least she doesn’t pounce on my tail anymore.)

Elorian assured us that fading meant the girl had woken up, and hopefully now that she wasn’t in the shallows, she would start having normal dreams again. A bit of an odd time flux happened while we were waiting though. What felt like an hour to the rest of us was maybe five minutes or so to Aris and Hellebore. Once we’d regrouped, we continued on, and discovered another horror of the Shallows.

Standing in between three portals was a fire-giant. Elorian called it a “shadow” and said that sometimes when monsters dreamed, they ended up here too, creating shadows. According to her, shadows usually just stand there unless something triggers them. Indeed, the giant didn’t seem to react to us, until we started to try and make our way to the portal. When Aris stepped forward alone, it simply moved to block his path, but then Aris and Hellebore made the mistake of both attempting to go around it in opposite directions. Then, with a speed much greater than one would expect of a creature its size, the Giant attacked Aris and Hellebore.

Hellebore fell to its sword, wounded severely, but none of us could go to her aid. I rushed the giant, hoping to distract it so it wouldn’t go after Hellebore, and I managed to trip it up, though I couldn’t seem to really hurt it due to its armor. Thorgrim’s hammer proved extremely effective, as with four swift, deadly throws, the giant was almost dead, and Vulkheart and Bejik made quick work of it. Bejik and Elorian quickly revived Hellebore, and I gave her my second potion. She used a charge of the psionic tattoo Aris had given her to recover a bit more, and we turned our attention to the portals.

We decided to try the northernmost portal first, and we each stepped through one at a time. Through some weird shallows nonsense, Hellebore, Baby, Thales and I ended up somewhere different than the rest of the party. It seemed to be a city, of sorts, filled with thousands upon thousands of shadowy figures. Thales said this looked to be the work of one of the other Sages, namely, the one known as Biana. We decided that it was better not to split the party, so we went back the way we came.

Our first trip through landed us in what seemed to be the literal stomach of some monstrous creature. The walls were made of flesh, and they writhed, and it smelled absolutely horrendous. We very quickly jumped back through the portal, and, luckily ended up back in the courtyard where the rest of the party was waiting. Apparently they had all ended up in some sort of burned out tunnel. We discussed our plan of action, and decided we should head to the city. We would just keep going back and forth through the portal until we all wound up in the same place.

It took a few tries, but eventually, we were all in the City of Shadows. The shadows themselves didn’t pay us any heed. Nothing we did seemed to get their attention as they wandered the city aimlessly. Elorian examined the shadows and commented that they appeared to be “dream-selves” created by the sage. As we looked around, I noticed an inscription on the fountain in the city courtyard. It said “If I shed enough dreams, can I shed the taint growing in my brain?” which seemed to explain why there were so many of these shadows wandering about.

We picked our way through the city, searching for the source of the shadows. All of the buildings were rather odd. They seemed normal on the outside, but were hollow, empty husks inside. Looking around, the city seemed to sprawl endlessly, with the same few buildings repeated over and over. As we explored, we heard a message in our minds: “Shadows have touched the hearts of all seven sages.” Thales went pale at hearing this. I could tell from my party’s faces that this message only added to the suspicion they already felt towards Thales.

Finally, we found the building that seemed to be the source of the shadows. Inside was a woman, floating a few inches off the ground. Her face was contorted with pain, and her eyelids were missing. In her hands she clutched a stone. Every few seconds, the stone would pulse, and two more shadows would appear from it. Around her neck was the token, which Thales told us to retrieve and we would go. We wanted to help Biana, instead of just taking her token, but she didn’t seem to notice us. Even when we attempted to open a mindscape with her, nothing happened. Finally, Vulkheart noticed a ring on her hand, made of the same material as the circlet Thales had given Thorgrim. Vulkheart removed the ring, and we tried again to open a mindscape.

This time, Biana was in the mindscape with us, but we still couldn’t seem to get her attention. That’s when Elorian reached up to wipe some blood off of Biana’s face and the sage seemed to… implode on herself, right where Elorian touched her. Words don’t do justice to how horrifying it was to watch. Biana’s whole body seemed to suck into a point on her face, until there was nothing left. The token and the stone clattered to the floor, and Thorgrim retrieved them.

That’s when the shadows started to turn on us. At first, it was just a few of them, then a few more joined, and we quickly realized that if we didn’t flee, then the entire city of Shadows would soon be upon us. Thirephum had been standing outside the building, and teleported inside to warn us, and somehow sparked mass chaos as he is wont to do. When he appeared, I briefly felt a wave of dizziness and disorientation wash over me, and everyone near him start to shake their heads and seem confused. Even Thirephum himself seemed disoriented. Only Bejik, Thorgrim and I remained unaffected.

Aris and Vulkheart both seemed distressed, as they both started attacking those nearest them. Luckily for Aris, this was one of the shadow creatures, but in Vulkheart’s case, this was Thirephum. Thorgrim did his best to fend off Vulkheart with his shield, and this seemed to snap something in him as his eyes cleared, then went wide with horror as he realized he had just attacked an ally. The danger at hand also seemed to help Thirephum shake his confusion, and he cast a spell that allowed him and Hellebore to fly. (Though not quite as fast as I can, I might add.) Hellebore proceeded to fly around the room in a disoriented state until she managed to finally shake off her confusion.

Elorian, Thorgrim and I, meanwhile, focused on trying to fend off the shadow beings and clear a path back to the portals. Thirephum, flying overhead, started shouting orders, and trying to guide everyone to the portal. First he got Bejik out by using a spell that allowed him to leap over the enemies. Hellebore finally snapped her confusion and flew Baby to the portal before going back to help Aris. Vulkheart shifted into his wolf form again, and battled his way through the horde, though he got surrounded before he could make it to the portal we’d come from, and was forced to jump into one of the others. Thorgrim, unshakable as ever, barely reacted to seeing Vulkheart in such a state, and Aris assumed he was seeing things.

Unfortunately, the flight spell was ended when Thirephum took a rather nasty bite from one of the shadows and lost his focus. Wasting no time, Thirephum then cast a spell on Elorian and Thorgrim that would give them a better chance of fleeing, the same one that allowed me to fly twice as quickly as normal when I tried to chase down the Nautiloid. Thorgrim took the opportunity to bolt to the portal and escape. Vulkheart jumped back through the wrong portal and through the correct one, and Hellebore grabbed a still-dazed Aris and teleported the two of them to a nearby rooftop.

Meanwhile, Thales cast a spell to float himself about 20 feet off the ground, and Thirephum somehow managed to do the same (though he seemed rather surprised to be floating so I suspect it wasn’t intentional.) That left Elorian, and she was completely surrounded in an alleyway, and badly wounded. In a flash of brilliance, she grabbed a hand-ax and her unbreakable arrow and scaled the nearby building. I discovered that the two that were floating were easy enough to just pull sideways through the air while I flew, and I dragged Thales and Thirephum over to Elorian. The spell seemed to hold as Thirephum carried the ranger, and I towed the three of them to safety over the horde and through the portal. A couple seconds later, Aris and Hellebore appeared, and Elorian did something with her psionics to lock the portal and assure that the shadows couldn’t follow us.

With everyone accounted for, I glanced around at our surroundings and was very displeased to find myself back in the disgusting stomach-world. There wasn’t enough room for me to spread my wings, so I was quite envious of the three floating above the muck. I volunteered to test the portal, and luckily it led right back to the courtyard where we had started. Exhausted and relieved, everyone filed through the portal. Vulkheart, still in his wolf form, took to dragging the three floating people with a rope, as they had no means of propelling themselves. We all agreed that we should retire to the ship for the night and rest before going after the next sage’s token.

Back on the ship, Minerva made us a lovely dinner and healed up some of the more serious wounds. I had a chat about brothers with Elorian while I was on the deck writing and enjoying the fresh air. I recommended that she write a journal, as I’ve found it a helpful way to cope with the stress of adventuring, and perhaps one day her brother would enjoy reading it. Bronzewing seemed to take a liking to Elorian too. (The jerky she gave him definitely helped that.) I was relieved to hear that Thorgrim had locked up Biana’s token where Thales couldn’t get to it. None of us really trust him. I’m anxious to see what happens during tomorrow’s excursion.

P.S.

I had the weirdest dream last night. I was in the shallows with Elorian, Vulkheart, Aris, Hellebore and  Peony , a very young wood elf I trained with at the monastery. Peony, being her hyper self, first tried to pick a fight with Aris, then tried to convince Hellebore to curse Aris, or to come hunt monsters with her and Elorian “and Killy too, if she’s not a chicken!” Then, while we were searching for monsters or treasure or whatever, Peony decided to embarrass me by telling everyone about the spring I spent at the monastery, when I molted feathers  everywhere . It was quite embarrassing.


	17. 19th day of Eleasias, 1494

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party returns to the Shallows to find the rest of the tokens

In the morning, we all crowded around the table and discussed our plan of action for our trip into the shallows. We decided to go to the charcoal cave we’d encountered the day prior, but that’s not exactly what ended up happening. I’m getting ahead of myself though. We questioned Thales about the sages that might reside in the different shallows based on what we’d seen, but he wasn’t very forthcoming with information. (Though we did learn about a rather disgusting fetish that Vulkheart called “vore” and we started calling one of the shallows “O’Vore,” because it looked like the sick fantasy of the sage might have something to do with that fetish.)

Then, in overly dramatic Aris fashion, the great oaf ushered Thales out of the room, then announced to the party that he was dying. He said he’d caught a parasite in Whitestone and that it was talking to him in his mind. We called in Minerva to examine him, and she confirmed that she’d seen some sort of parasite swimming around in his eye. She said that the only way to get it out would be to have a higher-level cleric kill Aris and revive him a few days later with a spell that she was too weak to cast. Aris said the parasite spoke to him and preferred to be called a “symbiote.” I’m still convinced he’s being dramatic.

After that, we headed back through the portal into the shallows. We found the little girl in the lobby again, crying, so it seems like waking her up wasn’t enough to keep her from coming back. I move far faster than the others, and the girl was quite small, so I flew her back through the portal this time. It was actually kind of sweet to see the look on her face as I flew with her. I feel bad for those that never get to experience the joys of flight.

Once I returned to the party, we continued onward towards the portals. Thorgrim jumped into one while Elorian tried protesting that it was the wrong one. Unfortunately, her warning came a bit too late and the rest of us just followed Thorgrim through. We ended up in a barren, colorless wasteland. I scouted ahead from the air and saw a speck of red on the horizon, so I directed the party towards it. I soon realized it was the body of the sage, but I decided it was a bad idea to approach it without the others there for backup. There were also two other portals further on that we could exit through.

When the others finally reached the body, Aris quickly found the Sage’s pendant, another psionic ring, and some crystal shards. Vulkheart decided to examine the body to try and see what had killed the sage, who Thales called Solon Vulkheart found obvious claw marks on his back, and, more disturbingly, needle-like hairs in his eyes. That’s when we were ambushed by the creature. It had long, prickly fur, which it jabbed into Aris’ eye. Luckily, it quickly succumbed to Thorgrim’s hammer and Vulkheart’s sword. Thirephum decided we should give Solon a proper funeral, and put the body on his shoulders. Then we quickly made our way through the next portal, in case there were any more of those prickly creatures. Thirephum decided it was ok to pluck a feather from my shoulder. When I got upset, he claimed that he needed it for one of his spells, and I told him to just ask next time.

That was when we found ourselves in the charcoal cave where we’d initially intended to go. We were standing in a different part of the cave this time and it was oppressively hot. I felt like I was going to melt! It was horrendous. Around the corner we could see two fire salamanders. Thorgrim and Hellebore in particular seemed nervous to face them, as they had lost a couple friends to these beasts in the past (including Norkath’s brother.) Thirephum set down the Sage’s body and attempted to sneak up on them, seemingly forgetting that his armor jingles quite noisily when he moves. So, of course the beasts spotted him and the fight was on. Thirephum shouted that there was a third hiding around the corner.

Elorian managed to wound the first beast quite badly with her arrow, while Aris attacked it with his Great Ax. It managed to snag Aris in its tail, simultaneously squeezing and burning him. I distracted the second Salamander, and luckily managed to avoid its attacks. Hellebore drew the ire of the third, and apparently it managed to injure her quite badly, though I couldn’t see because of the building in between us. Then Thirephum did something completely unexpected: he somehow summoned a UNICORN. He called the unicorn Helen, and had apparently met her before. Thirephum climbed atop Helen’s back, riding her into battle! She kicked the first salamander to death, and gored the one I was fighting with her horn. This freed Aris, who managed to finish it off with a mighty swing of his ax. The third was finished off by Elorian’s arrow and Thorgrim’s hammer.

Helen graciously healed Aris and Hellebore, and I learned her name was truly Helleadrita, and that Thirephum just can’t pronounce complicated elvish names. (I had no idea unicorns speak elvish, but not common. Luckily I’m fluent.) As soon as Helleadrita disappeared, the Sage Pherecyde appeared with another fire salamander and called for a parlay. Unfortunately, it didn’t go well, as Pherecyde turned on us the moment we mentioned Thales. We tried to convince her that our intentions were good, and we only wanted to help, but she wouldn’t hear it. She turned and tried to run towards the flaming pit that occupied one side of the cavern, ordering her remaining salamander to attack us.

Aris grabbed the sage while the rest of us dealt with the salamander. Thorgrim seemed upset to be breaking parlay, but we pointed out that Pherecyde had broken it first. In the scuffle, Pherecyde managed to use some psionic ability to escape Aris’ grasp, and made another mad dash for the flaming pit. Elorain managed to tackle her just before she reached it, and Hellebore, thinking quick, used a spell to put the sage into a stupor. (Elorian later told me that Hellebore telepathically warned her to shut her eyes, and that’s why she was unaffected.)

Vulkheart, seeming a bit distressed by the situation, carefully lifted the dazed sage onto his shoulders and began to carry her towards the exit. Aris, Bejik and Thirephum quickly looted her workshop before following us out. We made it back to the entrance of the shallows and Vulkheart gently set the sage down on the ground. Then Elorian excitedly informed us that she could cast a spell known as “Zone of Truth.” We all agreed it might be worthwhile to use it, perhaps to try and convince Pherecyde that our intentions are true, and to get some more information out of Thales.

So Elorain set up the spell, and we started questioning each other. It wasn’t my first time under the effects of this spell (my mom is quite fond of using it) and I always find the sensation odd. You feel strangely compelled to be truthful, even if you have no intent of lying in the first place. This effect can compel you to say things you otherwise would think better of. I found myself blurting that I wasn’t convinced that Aris was actually dying. That earned a scathing glare from the barbarian. Oops. Thales pleaded with us to try and keep Pherecyde unconscious, and Vulkheart blurted that we could hit her over the head. He then apologized profusely, claiming he didn’t mean to say it.

We questioned Thales on what he might be hiding, and what languages he spoke (he speaks neither Dwarvish, nor Elvish, or Celestial so that covers nearly everyone. Except, of course, Aris.) We puzzled over how we might keep Pherecyde subdued, and that’s where I made a fatal mistake. I suggested to Hellebore that she might ask Dendar, since the great snake seems to have some abilities relating to sleep. When I said the name, Baby’s eyes turned reptilian, a glowing purple stripe appeared on her side and her mouth opened. The head of a massive snake appeared from her mouth, unhinged its jaw, and swallowed the dazed sage whole. It was absolutely horrifying to watch. It happened so quickly that none of us were able to stop it. We all stood in a bit of a daze, staring as the snake head disappeared and Baby returned to normal. The cat started casually licking her paw like nothing happened.

I apologized profusely, and we all agreed that nobody was to say “the D-word” except Hellebore. And even then, she was only to do it when necessary. Right before she dispelled the Zone of Truth, Elorian excitedly informed Vulkheart that she believed that she recognized what he was. She said he appeared to be a “Shifter,” which are native to her home world of Eberon. He seemed rather startled by this information and was quiet and dazed for a while. With that, we decided to check out another portal instead of going back to the ship. Bejik and Thirephum stayed to guard Thales (we decided it was best Thales stay here in case the next sage was hostile towards him specifically, like Pherecyde had been.) The easiest for us to get to was the horrifying realm of “O’vore,” so, much to my displeasure, that’s where we went.

The whole shallow reeked. (Even to my meager sense of smell. I felt sorry for Vulkheart.) There was still the disgusting milky liquid covering the ground, and everything was squishy and pulsating. I almost wished I was back suffering heatstroke in Pherecyde’s shallow. As we made our way through the squishy corridor we came upon a deeper pool of the liquid. From it sprang an acidic, gelatinous beast. It attacked Aris, who was in the lead. Elorian reacted quickly, shooting her arrows into the creature and tearing chunks from it. Aris hacked at it with his ax, and I finished it off with my sword and a solid punch, which burned the scales on my hand a bit. Aris decided to see if there was anything of interest in the pool, and found a stone long-sword. He put it in Thorgrim’s bag of holding, saying that we’d divy up the loot later.

As we explored, we discovered that the tunnels looped around, all ending at a hole in the central cavern, where the disgusting liquid drained away. Aris volunteered to go down it on a rope, and Thorgrim tied his off to the immovable rod. Unfortunately, the hole was too deep and we had to pull Aris up and tie Vulkheart’s 50 feet of rope to Thorgrim’s. That was long enough to reach the bottom, and Aris gave the signal for us to follow. Elorian and I pleaded in elvish with Hellebore to clean us off with her spell (which she called prestidigitation) when we reached the bottom, and luckily the warlock agreed. Vulkheart went down after Aris, and Thorgrim followed. I went next, carrying Baby, since I have a third set of limbs and could simply carry the cat in the “elbow” of my wing and still have my hands free to climb. (I’m very glad now that I’ve made friends with Baby and she didn’t freak out and claw me while I climbed.) Hellebore came down next, but Elorain slipped and fell. Luckily Aris and Thorgrim were ready and waiting in case this happened and caught the hunter with only a few bruises to show for it.

Once Hellebore had prestidigitated us clean (she made Aris grovel and beg because he’d said she wasn’t his favorite while under the effects of Zone of Truth) we continued on. Aris muttered to himself how Thales owed us a raise In one squishy cavern we found a slab of obsidian with three skeletons laying on it, embedded in mucus. I was wary of touching it, but it seemed to have no ill effect when Aris did. Aris, Elorian and Hellebore started studying the writings that covered the obsidian slab while Thorgrim and Vulkheart stood guard. Moving as quietly as I could in the ankle-deep milky liquid, I went back the way we came and down the other passageway, hoping for another way out. All I found was another mucus-covered dead end so I went back to the others. That’s when they attacked. Three large, mutilated figures that were somehow hiding in the liquid before.

One of the figures was wearing the Sage’s token, and the second was wearing a ring like the ones the other sages had, but this one sparked with electricity. That one ambushed Aris, slashing with its claws and gnashing teeth. I went after the third one, landing some solid blows with my sword and fists. I managed to dodge the claws, but the beast snapped and inflicted a deep bite wound on my shoulder. Something about its bite made my head feel fuzzy, and I’ve had a nasty headache since. (Minerva gave me some willow tea, which did nothing to help. Hopefully it goes away after I sleep.) The one bearing the sage’s token attacked Vulkheart, wounding him as well.

It was a tough fight, but we managed to kill the beasts. I dealt the finishing blow on the one with the Sage’s token and grabbed it. Aris grabbed the electric ring from the other, and started poking around where the third one had been hiding. While he was doing that, Elorian happily informed me that Minerva had taught her some healing spells, and she mended my wounds a bit. Aris found a treasure chest full of gold and a couple gems in the murk, and dumped the contents into Thorgrim’s bag. After that, it was back up through the hole we’d came down, as there were no other exits. I carried Baby again. This time though, Aris and Vulkheart declined to have Hellebore clean them off.

When we met back up with the others, Aris and Vulkheart cornered Thales, both of them still dripping with the smelly, disgusting white liquid, and demanded a raise. Thales seemed flustered and disgusted by the pair, and apologized, but didn’t offer a raise. Finding the Sage’s reaction amusing, I commented that Thales looked like he needed a hug, to which Aris obliged, much to Thales’s dismay. Thales said he would consider giving us a raise.

With that, Hellebore cleaned the three of them off and we went back to the ship to deposit the tokens and loot we had collected. When we exited, it was dark out, and Minerva seemed distressed. She said we had been in there for over twelve hours, and that it was the middle of the night. We reassured her that time was rather screwy in there, and that for us it had only been a few hours. As a group, we decided that we might as well get some rest and go back in the morning, since an hour’s rest wasn’t much different than eight hours of sleep, given the seemingly random relationship between time here and in the shallows.

We went through the loot before going to bed. Vulkheart took the stone sword, I got the lightning ring, and Elorian took Biana’s stone and the black, heart-shaped psionic stone we’d found in the treasure chest. It was the middle of the night, so after getting some tea from Minerva for my headache (Vulkheart requested some as well, but Aris decided he’d tough it out.) I retired to my room to write my journal and get some rest.

Minerva said that Bronzewing had been a terror all day, apparently chasing crew members and climbing the mainmast with his beak and talons, only to jump off and glide back to deck. Most of his flight feathers have shed their sheaths, revealing golden-tan plumage with brown speckles. I wonder if his color will change after his first molt or if his adult coloration will be the same. I explained that the later behavior was necessary for him to learn how to fly, but she said it was causing a disturbance. I’ll have to find some way to keep him entertained when I’m not there to watch him.


End file.
